discuss a helmut newton photo

[removed account4]

wasn't a big fan until last night when i got a chance to really
look at his work. and this one pretty much says it all ...

https://www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/helmut-newton/crocodile-3

 

[PittP]

Modest copycat ...

(c) Peter Beard 1966

 

[DonW]

Typical of apug/photrio, ask for an intelligent discussion on something than other gear, cropping or development times and all you get is crickets lol. I have to admit I didn't see the original post though. Bad me.

I have always liked Helmet Newton's work. Not for all the tits and ass but for the lighting, compositions and boldness. He broke down barriers by showing women to be strong and in charge of their own sexuality.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Well, that image does not make me think of anything special.

Newton's work? The main point it appears was to shock, at least provoke, sometimes distasteful. Did he really break any barriers? Naked female body in crocks mouth? She appears as a better looking than the crock, but probably did not make it past the shot, crock was the happy one in the end. This kind of stuff probably works for some, but I see nothing to spent time on. The image shows pretty much what Newton was about.

Newton and female body? I say he treated all his models as props without brain. There are superior examples of showing female body. Newton advanced nothing on how to photograph them.

 

[Peter Schrager]

Helmut Newton was incredible and did some awesome work. funny how some people see it but I wish I owned a few of his prints as they are selling now for several hundred thousands of dollars. regardless he was Never degrading in any way to the female form and only helped to empower the spirit of feminism.
see it as you will ..that's what art is about....

 

[pentaxuser]

Can I ask what the lower half of a naked female body in a croc's mouth up to its midriff is supposed to be saying about female empowerment?. What, if anything, does Mr Newton say about what he was trying to say with this picture ?

pentaxuser

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Helmut Newton was incredible and did some awesome work. funny how some people see it but I wish I owned a few of his prints as they are selling now for several hundred thousands of dollars. regardless he was Never degrading in any way to the female form and only helped to empower the spirit of feminism.
see it as you will ..that's what art is about....

Thanks for the joke on Newton "empowering females" and as for his prints? Selling for crazy penny? Well that is also a joke as it's always been also about Warhol's work (and several others), both I put in about same category of typical "artsy" shocking work which is sadly sort of a standard in becoming a "successful" art man. Newton had some good photographs, but what sells is none of them.

Now - Jeanloup Sieff - he is incredible.

 

[removed account4]

Typical of apug/photrio, ask for an intelligent discussion on something than other gear, cropping or development times and all you get is crickets lol. I have to admit I didn't see the original post though. Bad me.

I have always liked Helmet Newton's work. Not for all the tits and ass but for the lighting, compositions and boldness. He broke down barriers by showing women to be strong and in charge of their own sexuality.

no worries. I forgot about this post for jeez it looks like 3+ years. ... yea that is photrio / apug. .. if it isn't T+A ( or a tractor ! ) or controversial, you know a MALE nude in the gallery no one really notices it . https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/?order=view_count what can you do?
yea. I remember when I was studying for a physics exam and took a break and found a retrospective book of his in the library. strong composition and the women looked like they were complicit / collaborating with the work .. the crock I thought was funny. he had a sense of humor I think ( as did his models )...

Can I ask what the lower half of a naked female body in a croc's mouth up to its midriff is supposed to be saying about female empowerment?. What, if anything, does Mr Newton say about what he was trying to say with this picture ?

pentaxuser

not sure, but I would love to see / hear / read what he has to say about how he worked and how he collaborated with his subjects. I would rather look at his nudes any day over most of the nudes I have seen on this website ( or the internet or ... in "art book" ) more punch. in the face than titilating soft core porn ..

see it as you will ..that's what art is about....

you said it brother !

--
newton's work really reminds me a lot of of someone who used to be active here years ago by the name of Thomas Saurwein ... he used the human form in a sculptural way rather than a sexual way. ..

 

[removed account4]

Thanks for the joke on Newton "empowering females" and as for his prints? Selling for crazy penny? Well that is also a joke as it's always been also about Warhol's work (and several others), both I put in about same category of typical "artsy" shocking work which is sadly sort of a standard in becoming a "successful" art man. Newton had some good photographs, but what sells is none of them.

Now - Jeanloup Sieff - he is incredible.

not sure of that whole thing about being successful I hope it doesn't have to do with controversy or shocking image making. its too bad that people who enjoy photography are so shallow if that is the case. thanks for the sieff reference !! just poked around on duckduckgo images. .. classic !

 

[Ian Leake]

I love many of Newton's photos and am completely baffled by many others; rarely anything in between. This crocodile photo is in the latter group.

newton's work really reminds me a lot of of someone who used to be active here years ago by the name of Thomas Saurwein ... he used the human form in a sculptural way rather than a sexual way. ..

Thomas Saurwein's work is fantastic - thank you for reminding me!

 

[rick shaw]

I guess you had to be there.

 

[flavio81]

I have always liked Helmet Newton's work. Not for all the tits and ass but for the lighting, compositions and boldness. He broke down barriers by showing women to be strong and in charge of their own sexuality.

Me too. He has been hugely influential on most fashion photographers. You can't take away that from him!!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

This is another photographer whose name I have heard of but not familiar with his work. I'll take a look. Thanks for the post, John.

 

[grain elevator]

I guess you had to be there.

 

[Wayne]

I liked his work enough to buy his book Big Nudes many years ago. I don't like every image in it but I prefer images of strong women over ones that make them look cloying or weak.

The croc image doesn't do a thing for me. Nobody's perfect. I've never looked at his fashion work because fashion holds zero interest for me.

 

[Pieter12]

I liked his work enough to buy his book Big Nudes many years ago. I don't like every image in it but I prefer images of strong women over ones that make them look cloying or weak.

The croc image doesn't do a thing for me. Nobody's perfect. I've never looked at his fashion work because fashion holds zero interest for me.

Pretty much everything he did was fashion on assignment or commission.

 

[Wayne]

Pretty much everything he did was fashion on assignment or commission.

Nudity is poor fashion, IMO.

 

[Pieter12]

Nudity is poor fashion, IMO.

Good thing you're not a fashion photo editor.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

wasn't a big fan until last night when i got a chance to really
look at his work. and this one pretty much says it all ...

https://www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/helmut-newton/crocodile-3

Newton was always an inspiration to me; he was a fantastic photographer with incredible crreativity. Too bad he's gone.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Name sounds familiar. Photo is crapshut.

 

[Wayne]

Good thing you're not a fashion photo editor.

Fashion is an offense only other people commit.

 

[removed account4]

I love many of Newton's photos and am completely baffled by many others; rarely anything in between. This crocodile photo is in the latter group.

I can see that, its a weird photo. less fashion and more kind of goofy . makes me wonder if one of the outtakes is the model posed like that but wearing stiletto heals

Thomas Saurwein's work is fantastic - thank you for reminding me!

This is another photographer whose name I have heard of but not familiar with his work. I'll take a look. Thanks for the post, John.

Yeah Thomas' work was fantastic. He was one of the few photographers who did figurative work who didn't rely on the nudity of his female subjects to be the subject of his work. I'm usually not a fan of photographic nudes because to me at least they usually more porn than art, and from what I have seen ( I don't look often ) not very good at disguising that they are really porn / soft core porn images made by men. Sadly on the internet I have read all sorts of comments and commentary made by men asking all sorts of lewd and sleazy questions of the photographer, and sometimes their answers have been equally as gross. One of my favorite threads on the LF forum was one where some people asked Frank Petronio all sorts of creepy questions, and FP's response had to do with how *HE* did some modeling at a university or something and learned all about the vulnerability of his models by wearing their shoes ... it was an interesting thread..... and Thomas was one of the few people who over the years was able to post things that were more than a naked body ... I wish there was more of that ...

 

[Arthurwg]

Can I ask what the lower half of a naked female body in a croc's mouth up to its midriff is supposed to be saying about female empowerment?. What, if anything, does Mr Newton say about what he was trying to say with this picture ?

pentaxuser

Everyone has to make a living.

 

[removedacct1]

Thomas was one of the few people who over the years was able to post things that were more than a naked body ... I wish there was more of that ...

95% of nude photographs are soft porn by design. Even on this forum, the majority of nudes by far are created to titillate, and eroticize the nude body. I'm much more interested in the other 5%.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Well, when it comes to Newton he hardly ever left anything to imagination. If it wasn't for his photographs of naked women (they were no nudes) I doubt his name would be where it is. Not that he could not be good, he chose a route of being who he had become. There are so many superior examples in photography, I have it really easy to not pay attention to one who, as a norm, went after having naked women pose for him.