Contrast, Balance, Harmony

I love everything about this photo by Richard Avedon.  He has beautiful contrasting black and white photos, but my favorite is this one.  This photograph called Dovima with Elephants, and evening dress by Dior, at Cirque d'Hiver was taken in 1955.  The beauty within this photograph is emulated by contrast, harmony, and balance.  The first thing I noticed was how Dovima's white dress makes her stand out between the elephants dark grey skin, and shadows.  I also see contrasting figures and texture by the rough and dirty elephants compared to sleek, elegant Dovima and the dress.  I feel with these high contrasts I cant take my eyes off the dress and Dovima, which is where I believe the cognitive aspect comes into play.  The goal that Richard was trying to achieve is to show off or advertise the dress from Dior.  He created that psychological response to viewers making Dovima's dress be the subject that was most likely looked at first or more often in the picture.
The elephants' poses and actions portray an energetic yet harmonious feel, even though Dovima and the elephants are very different, it still seems to be a pleasing combination.  I especially love the cultural uniqueness shown with an elegant women posing just like the elephants, in a probably very expensive dress.  Normally in real life (not posing for photographs), you wouldn't see a women in a beautiful expensive dress next to a giant animal covered in dirt.  Which makes the photo even more interesting.
Balance and harmony tie the photographs subjects together by a couple of ways.  The photo has a dusty look, but what seems to balance the photo is the clean dress right in the middle.  Her pose imitating the elephants balance the photo as well, creating a more organized, unified, and harmonious look.