Cult fashion photographers — Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton
“Exploring Sexuality”
Helmut Newton was a German photographer of Jewish origin born on October 31st 1920 in Berlin. The young Helmut began his interest in photography at the age of 12 and his first apprenticeship was in the studio of the photographer Elsa Simon, known under the pseudonym Yves.
On the eve of World War II in 1939 Helmut, then still Neustädter, was forced to emigrate from Germany with his family, after which he lived and worked for a while in Chile, Singapore and then Australia.
Newton is a very iconic and provocative figure in the world of photography. The photographer has a recognizable style which hundreds of imitators have been trying unsuccessfully to copy for years. His revolutionary vision of advertising fashion photography and his motto “Sex sells” revolutionized the fashion industry forever.
The first magazine that started to collaborate with the author was the Australian Vogue. For other magazines at that time Helmut’s photos were too explicit. Success came to him in the early 70’s when he began cooperating with the European magazines Vogue as well as Elle, Marie Clair, and even Playboy.
The most beautiful women of the time lined up for Newton’s castings. Selecting models, Helmut compliments the girls and always asks about the size of their breasts. By the way, his future wife June Browne photographer met on the set.
The best Hollywood and European actresses — Elizabeth Taylor, Monica Bellucci, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve and Charlotte Rampling dream of posing for him.
The master admired his models wholeheartedly: “I love women. There is nothing I love more”.
The women in his pictures have a magnetic appeal. They are dominant, dressed in men’s clothes or even naked. Newton strove to create the image of a woman of the future — uninhibited, bright and self-sufficient.
He successfully managed to inspire horror in the conservative audience. In 1976 his book White Women was published, which caused a real resonance in society, and the photograph of Cindy Crawford — Lady with a Doberman — became the photographer’s calling card.
Helmut’s photographs were distinguished by their distinctive framing and the play of shadows in black and white. The angle of the pictures is not perfect, as if the photographer is peeping, but at the same time, nothing escapes him.
If you look at all of Helmut’s work, each one is a different story. He’s like a filmmaker who creates a “talking” environment around a person.
“I still believe that the perfect fashion photograph is one that doesn’t look ‘fashionable.’ It should look like a movie shot, a portrait shot, or a random paparazzi shot — basically, anything but a fashion photograph”.
Throughout his career, Newton has rarely turned down a fashion shoot. The photographer has devoted 50 years to fashion and gave it up through sheer force of will — he often found it difficult to work with couturiers because of their desire to adhere to certain boundaries. After that, he began to devote more and more time to his own projects, which were more interesting to him at that time.
Author of the column: Julia Kuznetsova
