Jump, Paris 1965 © Melvin Sokolsky
Jump, Paris 1965 © Melvin Sokolsky
View more of Melvin Sokolsky’s work here.
What happened to Sante?
13 years ago when his book A Private View came out, he was the shit, at the top of his game and the industry, gracing the covers of all the major magazines, shooting choice editorials with the top celebrities and models at the time.
I rarely see his name these days and the editorials I do see feature second-tier subjects. His work used to be so playful, sensual and light. There was a warmth in his portraits and a lushness in his black & white work. Some of the recent work that I’ve seen is flat and cold, and very anonymous.
Regardless, his book A Private View is a shooting diary of his work with some personal notes, outtakes, and lists of films shot. It is a book full of charm and beauty.
Kate Moss © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Kate Moss © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Kate Moss © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Christy Turlington © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Christy Turlington © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Christy Turlington © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Julian Schnabel © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Julian Schnabel © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
Carla Bruni © Sante D'Orazio, A Private View
It is always the dress; it is never, never the girl. I’m just a good clothes hanger.
-Lisa Fonssagrives
Woman in Palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Marrakech, Morocco © Irving Penn, 1951
Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, February Vogue © Irving Penn, 1950
Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn © Irving Penn
Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, Harlequin Dress © Irving Penn, 1950
Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn © Irving Penn, 1949
Lisa Fonssagrives © Irving Penn
Award presenters Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly waiting backstage at the RKO Pantages Theatre, during the 28th Annual Academy Awards, Life Magazine, March 21, 1956.
Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly © Allan Grant, Life Magzine, March 21, 1956
An amazing series of candids shot by the fashion photographer Tom Palumbo in Paris, 1962.
Images from Paris cafés and nightlife in 1962, the same week Yves St. Laurent’s runway show vaulted Dior to new heights.
Many scenes around Les Halles (which no longer exists as it did then).
-Tom Palumbo
Interlude, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Eye Shadow, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Pink Scarf, Cigarette, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Model & Her Pet, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
A Perfect Pour, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Gout de vin, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Cheers, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Kissing the Hand, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Pout, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Trapped, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
At the bar, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Like Audrey, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Powder, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Cafe Flirting, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Laughter & Cake, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
After Dinner, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Young Lovers, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Impulsive Kiss, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Young Lovers Embrace, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Bella, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Bite, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
And the girls get drunk..., Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
That time of night, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
Light, Tom Palumbo, Paris 1962
There is nothing more naked than seeing a photographer’s contact sheets. Here are a few from the great editorial shooter Tom Palumbo who was a staff photographer with Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
Anne St. Marie Contact Sheet, Tom Palumbo
Anne St. Marie Contact Sheet, Tom Palumbo
Contact Sheet, Tom Palumbo
Contact Sheet, Tom Palumbo
Contact Sheet, Tom Palumbo
I love all the old pictures–of spanking and Bettie Page and corsets. But you can’t do spanking in fashion, so I wanted to do a project where I could really let go and get girls who also love those things. I thought it would be even more sexy when there was a story to go with it, so it wasn’t that difficult to write a little storyboard.
I had chapters, so there were 10 drawings in total. Each girl had a character and I used the storyboard to explain the story to the girls. But there was still freedom to play.
-Ellen Von Unwerth
Janelle Fishman as Emily; Travis Marshall as Eric the Chauffer; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Dorota Wójcik as Veronique a Maid; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Janelle Fishman as Emily; Diana Stroessel as Françoise; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Diana Stroessel as Françoise; Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Dorota Wójcik as Veronique a Maid; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Dorota Wójcik as Veronique a Maid; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Dorota Wójcik as Veronique a Maid; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Dorota Wójcik as Veronique a Maid; Tina Davis as The Baronness; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Tina Davis as The Baroness; Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Janelle Fishman as Emily; Travis Mashall as Eric the Chauffer; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Tina Davis as The Baroness; Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Svenja Parotat as Lulu a Maid; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Tina Davis as the Baroness; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Janelle Fishman as Emily; Travis Mashall as Eric the Chauffer; Tina Davis as the Baroness; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Julie Ordon as Marie-Louise; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Julie Ordon as Marie-Louise; Tina Davis as the Baroness; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Diana Stoessel as Françoise; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Diana Stoessel as Françoise; Travis Mashall as Eric the Chauffer; Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Diana Stoessel as Françoise; Travis Mashall as Eric the Chauffer; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Diana Stoessel as Françoise; Lenka Batkova as Laurence a Maid; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Janelle Fishman as Emily; Sarabeth Stroller as Isabelle; Julie Ordon as Marie-Louise; Diana Stroessel as Françoise; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Micki Olin as Ivy; Janelle Fishman as Emily; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Micki Olin as Ivy; Janelle Fishman as Emily; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
Micki Olin as Ivy; Janelle Fishman as Emily; Revenge by Ellen von Unwerth
For more than twenty-five years, Ellen Von Unwerth has celebrated movies through her fashion photography. Her photographs are generally straightforward, without special effects of the allusion to a more complicated narrative; she simply uses characters from noted films as the protagonists of her fashion essays, such as the piece for the October 1990 issue of Vogue (available here, wm) in which models are used to reincarnate Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard’s New Wave counterculture film Breathless (1959). Von Unwerth’s fashion essay concentrates on the breezy life of the doomed lovers as they tool around Paris riding a motor scooter, smoke at cafés, and snuggle in bed. Von Unwerth exploits readers’ identification with the characters in the film, especially the generation that came of age in the 1960s, when European culture and bohemian antiestablishment lifestyle were the vogue. More specifically, the New Wave French films radically changed the way movies were made. They were consonant with the disjunctive and nonlinear literature of the time. Their off-beat characters (often based on American movie gangsters) and the details of their behavior and dress helped create an identity for members of the American couterculture.
-Susan Kismaric & Eva Respini, Fashioning Fiction
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
Jean Seberg with Christy Turlington, October, 1990 Vogue, Ellen von Unwerth
“Fabelhaft” with Audrey Tautou in German Vogue, April 2002.
Technique undoubtedly helps make photography magical, but I prefer to work with atmosphere. I think that the obsession with technique is a male thing. Boy’s toys. They love playing… but once you’ve perfected something you have to start searching for a new toy. I would rather search for a new model or location.
-Ellen von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
Audrey Tautou in German Vogue by Ellen Von Unwerth
I think that a lot of people, especially people who work for fashion magazines, feel that their photographs at times are really pretty much discarded or thrown away immediately because when you work for a magazine people today really don’t save magazines like they used to. I just think that as long as one can work and have a good time at it and at least learn something then you’re not discarding what you do. You go out and do a photograph. It should be all about getting onto another photograph.
-Bruce Weber
Featuring Daria Werbowy, Kate Moss, Lara Stone, Sasha Pivarova and styled by Alex White for the July 2008 issue of W Magazine.
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
© Bruce Weber, W Magazine
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