Okay. How do we begin?

[elegant, engaging music playing]

[speaker 1] It would be hard to find any creative working today that isn't influenced by the work of Richard Avedon. He changed everything. Avedon was like a hunter.

[speaker 2] One of the influential photographers of the 20th century.

[speaker 3] It was unbelievable. He was like a magician. He's like, "Love it! Beautiful!"

[Avedon] I can't divide fashion from the way we live.

[speaker 4] Avedon transcends magazines to a larger medium.

[speaker 1] I walk into the show… It blew my socks off. It was like, "Who is this guy?"

[speaker 3] Dick was the ultimate truth-teller. I can't think of anybody who captures the currency of our times in the way that he did. We all want to look good, we all want to feel good about ourselves, that's not what he's looking for. Here was this photographer making a lot of money, shooting beautiful, elegant models. But he could not stay away from the events of the time. He wanted to make a statement.

[speaker 1] Sometimes in a brutally honest way. It really showcases what institutional racism looks like.

[speaker 1] Dick reveled in presenting famous people in a different light.

[Avedon] I relate to them and I feel connected to them.

[speaker 5] How do you photograph somebody who is so prepared to be photographed? How do you help that mask fall?

[speaker 6] And suddenly, I felt like somebody was seeing me for the first time, and that was a wonderful feeling.

[Avedon] Being an artist is about being in control.

[speaker 7] He was emotionally ruthless and totally insecure. Nothing was gonna take him away from whatever he was working on. That's a hard way to live.

[Avedon] In the end, everything fades.

[speaker 8] He made you pay attention.

[Avedon] Nothing is fixed.

[speaker 1] It was absolutely groundbreaking.

[Avedon] The light is always changing. Photography is the marriage of imagination and reality. Every photograph is accurate. And none of them is the truth.