Fashion: Yours: big shots at a snip

Pamela Hanson, Annie Leibovitz, David Bailey, David Sims, Miles Aldridge, Nick Knight. What sounds like a roll call of the mavens of fashion photography is actually a list of contributors to 'Fashion Exposures', an exhibition organised by the Aids charity Fashion Acts and sponsored by the Independent.

All the work on view is for sale. Prices, which are really minimum donations because no one will be prevented from paying more, range from pounds 25 for a quirky picture of a waistcoat by Candida Proctor (a St Martin's student) to pounds 600 for a Norman Parkinson print. These prices are rock ebottom. What's more, the buyers will have the satisfaction of knowing that all the money raised is destined for Fashion Acts.

The work on show is varied - anything from fashion reportage to portraits of rock stars. The contributors are varied, too. As well as household names - Patrick Lichfield, Linda McCartney, the designer Paul Smith - there are some new kids on the block. Tomorrow might be the right time to buy a signed print by Platon or Gavin Bond. Or there's the package of three prints donated by Jeny Howarth, model-turned-photographer, of Naomi Campbell, Cecilia Chancellor and a model backstage at John Galliano, which was delivered to our office at the eleventh hour neatly wrapped in calico.

The photographs shown here are not just examples of what you or I could buy from the show (which opens tomorrow and runs until Sunday), they also bear witness to the diverse imagery of fashion photography today. Maybe it's time to reach for the cheque book

Fashion Exposures in association with the 'Independent' is at The Worx Studios, 350 King's Road, London SW3 from 19 to 21 November.

URSULA STEIGER pounds 175

Steiger, a Swiss photographer, came to Britain nine-and-a-half years ago via Ireland. Being one of the few women who works behind (rather than in front of) the camera has its challenges. 'You have to try that much harder to prove that you are better. It's still very much a male thing.'

Photographic heroes: 'I like Pamela Hanson's work very much, as well as that of Peter Lindbergh and Patrick Demarchelier.'

PAMELA HANSON pounds 300 (RIGHT):

'I like to evoke as much of the personality as I can,' says Hanson, one of the leading lights of fashion photography. 'OK, so you have to see the clothes in a fashion picture, but what I'm really trying to do is create an atmosphere. I like to make it look as much like a snapshot as possible. That's what great photography is all about - just capturing a moment.'

Photographic heroes: 'I love the attitude and energy of Lartigue, as well as Helmut Newton and Arthur Elgort.'

Donated print: from a shoot for French Vogue photographed this autumn in the South of France.

CHRIS MOORE pounds 250

Moore has been covering the Paris collections since 1967. 'In those days we were allowed to photograph maybe two designs by a couturier, and we had to pay the model.' Now catwalk photography is a competitive free-for-all, as photographers and film crews jostle for prime position. Even so, Moore has the ability to make catwalk reportage look like a calmly composed studio shot - without losing any of the immediacy.

Photographic heroes: 'I've always admired Norman Parkinson for his wit.'

Donated print: taken at the Hanae Mori spring/summer 93 couture show.

HERBIE KNOTT pounds 100 (RIGHT):

Although he started with reportage in 1975,

Herbie Knott now does a good line in portraits. Recent subjects have included John Smith and kd lang. He also covers the Paris and New York collections for the Independent.

Photographic heroes: 'Annie Leibovitz because she lights her pictures brilliantly.'

Donated print: Lauren Hutton backstage at the autumn/winter 93 Calvin Klein show.

Also donated: that picture of Naomi Campbell falling off her platform shoes.

NIGEL SHAFRAN pounds 100

Shafran, who pioneered the kitchen-sink imagery that shook fashion photography out of its complacency, shrugs off his contribution. 'The funny thing is that I rarely do fashion photography any more Let's face it, this young English

scene is pretty boring ' His style has since been much imitated and, in the process, he feels it has lost its power.

'I'm a bit old fashioned - I just like good pictures. I don't like people who jump on the bandwagon to make a lot of money.'

Donated print: Cecilia Chancellor.

GAVIN BOND pounds 150

Bond, a mere 23 and already making a name for himself, graduated in June 93 from St Martin's School of Art. He has a clear idea of where he thinks fashion photography should be going. 'I'm glad to see the back of grunge - the kind of photos I like are beautiful women in beautiful places in beautiful clothes. I've never been sure about those images of unkempt girls with buckled knees standing next to a rusty radiator in a rundown council flat.' He says he employs the techniques of a voyeur: 'The best pictures of all are of situations you can't set up, like when someone accidentally falls down the steps.'

Photographic heroes: 'I'm not saying, I don't like talking about other photographers' work.'

Donated print: Linda Evangelista, backstage at Vivienne Westwood's Anglomania collection autumn/winter 93.

(Photographs omitted)