Helmut Newton

« What I find interesting is working in a society with certain taboos – and fashion photography is about that kind of society. To have taboos, then to get around them – that is interesting »

This is one of my favorite photographers the imaginative Helmut Newton a German/Australian photographer born in Berlin on October 31, 1920. Helmut Newton bought his first camera at the age of twelve and has been a brilliant and very accomplished photography genius. Newton’s talent was discovered when he illustrated an Australian supplement for Vogue magazine in 1956. Shortly afterwards he won a well deserved 12 month contract with Vogue UK and moved there immediately in 1957. He became such a major hit that he abandoned British Vogue before his contact was even over and moved to Paris, where he worked between French and German magazines. Most of his fabulous work in Paris was published in the most prestigious magazines such as, Vogue and competitor Harper’s Bazaar. His imagination involved a little bit of a vulgar side that included very erotic and fetish like photos. He was also very well-known for his fascinating simple black and white photography of very beautiful women. For him as a young boy he had witnessed a prostitute walking through the halls of the hotel he was staying with his father at the age of about nine. This is one of the reasons he developed this style where the women have all the power, every woman in his photographs is basically looks in control of the man or whatever/whoever else is in the photograph. When he created portrait photographs he always managed to entertain, seduce and amuse the model and I believe that is one of the many reasons he produced such great photographs. Not only did he take astonishing fashion photos but he also photographed girls in Playboy. In 1990, he was awarded the French reward « Grand prix National de la photographie » and just two years later was again granted the « Officier des arts, lettres et sciences in Monaco. So, as we can all see, Helmut Newton was well recognized for his amazing thorough, well imaged works of art in the photography world. Newton was on such a role at this point that right after his quick stay in Paris, he was hired at Australian Vogue in Melbourne. Sadly on January 23, 2004, Helmut Newton’s car had a malfunction and he hit the wall of the Chateau Marmount Hotel. The Helmut Newton foundation was opened shortly following his death.