ABSTRACT
Some of the manipulations of a negative described so far were done in such a way that they could not be easily detected in the positive photograph. Other practitioners have gone out of their way to draw the people attention to this repressed aspect of photography. The portraits shot for In the American West followed a set of conventions already well established by Avedon's earlier work, so much so that it became his signature style. It seems that Avedon initiated the image with an advertisement in a beekeepers' journal, asking for a volunteer to be photographed covered in bees. After considering various options, Avedon came to prefer one exposure in particular, where Fischer seems oblivious to the stinging of the bees. As Avedon put it, "it speaks more directly to my understanding of how to endure, of how to prevail".
