Embedded Files
"The women in my pictures are always strong, even if they are also sexy. My women always look self-assured. I try to make them look as beautiful as they can because every woman wants to feel beautiful, sexy and powerful. That's what I try to do.
Ellen von Unwerth
ELLEN'S
4 SEASONS
a fashion doc
by
MARTIN LATALLO
Ellen von Unwerth (b. 1954, Frankfurt, Germany) began her career as a model in Germany and France, but quickly transitioned to a role behind the lens, drawing inspiration from her early experiences in her effusively glamourous photographs. Ellen gained wide attention with her sensual Guess campaign featuring Claudia Schiffer in the early 1990s.
Von Unwerth won many prizes, amongst others the first prize at the International Festival of Fashion Photography in 1991, a LUCIE award for her career achievement in Fashion Photography in October 2019, a Royal Photographic Society award in 2020, and an Iconic Photographer Influencer Award in 2021.
In 2018, the monographic magazine Ellen von Unwerth’s VON was launched internationally, both print and online, showcasing her work with the new icons of the XXI Century, inspired by "kick-ass people", alternative cultures, cinema and individual emancipation.
"I took this maybe three years ago, on a fashion shoot for Italian Vogue. We developed a romantic story to go with it: a woman comes back to the place where she grew up, and finds it all dusty and falling apart. We shot it in a chateau in Paris. The girl was a model, and it was the only time I worked with her. After this, she disappeared. She was from eastern Europe, Romania maybe, and even the agency could't find her again. So she's like a ghost. The picture certainly has a ghostly feeling.
I love a picture that surprises you: you try to get everything perfect, then somehow it ends up looking wrong. That's why I love this one. It was taken with a Polaroid, one of those beautiful things that no longer exist. The light has caused the blurriness, giving the shot extra emotion. There's something eerie about it, too: the girl's expression is both vulnerable and strong.
I was a model for 10 years before becoming a photo-grapher. That certainly helps me now. I always felt bad in front of the camera, having to pose in particular ways – when all I wanted to do was something silly. So now I love it when models move, when they express themselves, when they play.
I love beautiful women. I love to show their personality, their sexuality. There's a fashion side to my erotic pictures: I love beautiful shoes and jewellery. But the erotic work I do is too daring and provocative for a fashion magazine. It's more fun, and if you have the right girl who likes it, more exciting, too. It's fashion photography, but with fewer clothes..."
Ellen made her career on recognising raw talent and boosting the careers of little-known stars (Claudia Schiffer and Eva Herzigova Kate Moss, among many others, and also thanks to her ability to help women lose their inhibitions on camera, resulting in empowered, often overtly seductive images where her subjects are in control. Whether Rihanna, Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham or Naomi Campbell, Ellen's women are always liberated and firmly in the driving seat.
Her photographs appear frequently in the pages of Vogue, i-D, Interview, Elle, Vanity Fair, Glamour, and Playboy. Von Unwerth has also directed short films, music videos, and commercials, and published several pivotal titles combining fiction, photography, and femme empowerment. She has been honored with first prize at the International Festival of Fashion Photography in 1991, a LUCIE Award for Fashion Photography in 2019, a Royal Photographic Society Award in 2020, and an Iconic Photographer Influencer Award in 2021.
She is a regular contributor to magazines all over the world, like Cosmopolitan, Egoïste, ELLE, Glamour, i-D, Interview, Lula, Numéro, Paper Magazine, Playboy, Stern, The Face, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and many international Vogue editions (American, French, German, Italian, Russian). Furthermore she directed short films for clients like Azzedine Alaïa, Dior, Guess, and Katherine Hamnett, and a range of commercials and music videos.
Ellen continued her career with campaigns for Absolut, Agent Provocateur, A.P.C., Aston Martin, Baccarat, Belvedere, Chanel, Chantal Thomass, Crazy Horse, David Morris, Diesel, Dior, Elisabetta Franchi, Ferragamo, G-Star, Guerlain, H&M, Hysteric Glamour, Jimmy Choo, Lacoste, L’Oréal, MAC Cosmetics, Mary Katrantzou, Mercedes-Benz, Miu Miu, Opel, Revlon, Rolex, Shiseido, Tommy Hilfiger, Veuve Clicquot, Victoria’s Secret, and many more.
Her first book, Snaps, was published in 1994, followed by Wicked (1998), Couples (1999), the photo-novella Revenge (2003), Omahyra & Boyd (2005), Fräulein (2009), DieSpieler (2010), the photo-novella The Story of Olga (2012), and lately Heimat (2017).
Her works have been exhibited worldwide, and are part of various collections, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her exhibition Devotion! 30 Years of Photographing Women was created for Fotografiska Stockholm in 2018 and it was one of the opening exhibitions at Fotografiska New York in 2020, followed by Fotografiska Tallin.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse