Inspiration: Paolo Roversi, Natalia Vodianova and Flashlight

We're big fans of Paolo Roversi's work here at W&W, so when I came across this old editorial, it brought back fond memories of seeing it for the fist time. I remember seeing this in an 2003 issue of Vogue Paris, and even though at first I hated the clothes, the shoot grew on me. I think the lighting is beautiful. Enjoy!

Haute Tension, Vogue Paris, March 2003 by Paolo Roversi

Photographer of the Month: Laurie Bartley

Born in 1977, British fashion photographer Laurie Bartley, got his start when he got involved with magazines like The Face, Dazed & Confused and Pop. I remember first noticing his work in a sauna themed editorial in Vogue UK May 2005 issue, and later again in November's Vogue China spread with Sasha Pivarova. 

Vogue UK May 2005

Vogue China Nov 2005

Laurie has the ability to light a scene so naturally that the ambiance is not lost but the subject still pops out of the scene. His lighting is brilliant! He embraces a cinematic approach that brings a mysterious sensibility to fashion photography. 
 
Supermodel Collette in Flair, December 2005

Beautiful winter editorial with Hye Park in Vogue Nippon Dec 2008

Various Editorials

His latest, New York State of Mind, photographed for September's US Elle is impeccable.

 
All images copyright Laurie Bartley

Photographer of the Month: Javier Vallhonrat

Javier Vallhonrat is a Spanish photographer, born in Madrid in 1953.  He began working for Italian Vogue in the mid 80s, and most of his current photos can be seen in Flair and British Vogue. His use of lighting is extraordinary, and he has a really strong signature style. It's nice to see that he is still going strong after over 25 years in the business.

Mr. Valhonrat is represented by Michelle Filomeno

Some earlier work from the late 80s

Vogue Italia 1989

Vogue Italia 1988

Some more recent editorials

Flair

Vogue Germany April 2010

Vogue UK May 2006

Vogue UK October 2005

Flair May 2006

Flair March 2005

Vogue UK 2008

Vogue UK April 2010

All images copyright Javier Valhonrat

Photographer of the Month: Jean-François Lepage

Jean-François Lepage is a French photographer who began his photographic career in Paris in 1980. 

Lepage is an artist who's style is immediately recognizable, he almost always uses a portable studio pack with a raw bulb, and quite frequently layers and scratches his negatives. He's has flown under the radar in North America, but we have admired his work for a long time now.

Here is a selection of some of his work, the outdoor shots are definitely favourites!

All images copyright Jean-François Lepage

R.I.P. Corinne Day

Corinne Day, one of 1990s most influential photographers, passed away last Friday, following a ten-year battle with brain cancer at 45. The British self-taught photographer’s stripped-down, de-glossed aesthetic was a breath of fresh air when she rose to prominence, coming on the heels of the ultra-stylized shoots of the 1980’s.

Corinne launched Kate Moss‘ career when she shot the unknown 16-year old model  for The Face in 1990. 
In Summer of Love, Day photographed Moss running around the beach wearing nothing but a feathered headdress and a pair of Birkenstocks. The photographs, published in style bible The Face captured the zeitgeist with such acuity that they changed the course of fashion photography.

Day had unwittingly opened the door on a new aesthetic that had been simmering at lower levels, she took the work she saw in Nan Goldin’s Ballad of Sexual Dependency and Larry Clark’s Tulsa and made the leap from art to commerce. When Day shot Moss for Vogue UK's June 1993 issue hanging around the house in underwear, a hurricane of disapproval was unleashed. Editors described the photographs as "just this side of porn", "hideous and tragic" and coined "heroin chic".

Day photographed Kate Moss countless times, and the two were an amazing force of late 90s aesthetic.

The controversial photographs hardly seen as shocking anymore, but Day’s work fuelled a whole generation of photographers like Juergen Teller, Craig McDean, David Sims and Glen Luchford who took her underground look and applied it to mainstream fashion.

1993 Vogue UK

Day's work from various magazines from 2000s.