Hello everybody!
Thank you so much for joining me once again at my little space on the internet! I hope everyone is having a lovely day.
Recently at university we have been looking at different fashion photographers and there was one main photographer that really stood out to me. I was just sat there feeling totally and utterly star struck. I loved his work from the very first photo I saw and I knew I wanted to delve a little deeper and really discover more about him and my favourite of his shots.
I am talking about Helmut Newton. He is known as one of the "most influential photographers of all time". I discovered that he was born in 1920 in Berlin to a lovely Jewish family and from a young age, he had a very strong passion for all things photography. He put aside his education as photography was the dream he wanted to pursue and he did this after getting his first camera at the young age of 12.
Newton began his career by working as an apprentice with another photographer called Else Simon who was known as 'Yva'. Her fashion shoots, nude shoots and things she did in the theatre inspired him majorly for his own career. Newton also inspires me a lot because not only is he a fantastic photographer but he had to flee Germany to China in 1938 as Adolf Hitler was getting extremely powerful. He stayed until 1940 until he went on to move to Australia.
However, Newton went on to marry a lady called June Browne and she was also a photographer who actually helped to direct a lot of his shoots. His wife went by the name of Alice Springs in the photography industry and they became a good duo. Newton also did a lot of work for French Vogue, Elle and playboy where he created brilliant imagery. If this wasn't amazing in itself, he also had his own photography studio. However, he preferred to shoot in streets and interesting set ups rather than studios.
The main reason why I love Newton so much is because his photographs are very unconventional and subversive. I would say that they really go against societal norms with some of his best work being highly "erotically charged". He had a large focus on women and this is further shown by his nude shoots. I feel like he is really stripping back what it means to be a woman in these shoots and making their sexuality and sensuality really stand out. These women look powerful and sexy and really look like they are doing it for themselves which I really like. I think Newton captures this beautifully in his shoots. The women that he used in his shoots were known to be 'strong', 'liberating' and 'dominating'. He was also known for the "dramatic lighting" that he uses in his shoots and I feel like this further adds a narrative to his work.
Newton was highly recognised and received a lot of awards. One being the Grand Prix de la photographie in 1990. Newton also received the title "King of Kink" for his work with playboy, Oui and Lui magazines and many more. To me, he was one cool, highly fascinating man who explored so many different perceptions and situations.
I hope you all enjoyed my little insight in to Helmut Newton and why he has now become on of my favourite photographers. I thought I would end this blog post by including all my absolute favourites of his work which I love and really spoke to me.
Niamh x
Comments