Twenty years ago, "Madison Avenue" was still synonymous with "advertising." That monopoly ended when L.A.'s Chiat/Day landed the Apple account and took a large chunk of Nike's advertising. Soon Fallon McElligot, Mullen, McKinney & Silver and other agencies around the country were setting the standards for creative, clever and image-driven advertising.

     Over the years, advertising was opened up to include a wider range of styles and techniques that let the handiwork and the humor of the photographer shine through. Slick ads were out, soft-sell was in, and new, more emotive and experimental styles of photography were showing up in national ads.

     The selection of advertising images shown here, gathered with the help of both art directors and art buyers, represent both good advertising and good photography. The best of them balance the sensibility and self-expression of the photographer with the demands of the client, the agency and the marketplace.

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