Just as photography has been used to inspire
and influence social or political opinion, it has also been used, since
the 1920s, to encourage and direct consumerism and as an adjunct to publicity
efforts. It employs many of the techniques of art photography, but in contrast
to photo reportage and most art photography, commercial photography makes
extensive use of color. Notable in this field are Irving Penn (1917- )
and Cecil Beaton, photographers of the fashionable rich; Richard Avedon,
who achieved fame as an unsparing portraitist of celebrities; and Helmut
Newton (1920- ), controversial fashion and portrait photographer whose
work is frequently overtly erotic.
