David Hamilton is a French photographer of British descent. He became famous thanks to a series of pictures of teenage girls. No one is indifferent to his work: fans are ready to purchase pictures for fabulous money, and opponents threaten to bring him to court. Be that as it may, the scandal always attracts attention, and David Hamilton has become one of the most famous and discussed photographers of our time.
Biography
In April 1933, David Hamilton was born in Britain. The war found him a schoolboy, the family had to evacuate from London. However, after the conclusion of peace, they returned here again, and when David graduated from high school, they all moved to Paris together. France became the second homeland of the photographer.
Hamilton worked as an architect for a while, then as a designer at ELLE. At the beginning of his creative career, he was engaged in advertising and commercial photography. Career has developed rapidly, and soon Hamilton takes the post of art director at Queen, and a little later at Printemps. Success quickly came to him. The works were published in magazines throughout Europe, the corporate identity became easily recognizable. Until now, the photographer holds exhibitions and publishes albums. His track record also has 6 films. He had a great influence on many contemporary photographers and directors, which they readily admit.
Hamilton's Style
As a rule, David Hamilton shoots teenage girls or very young women. A model with loose hair, in light draped clothes or without them at all, almost without makeup, appears as the embodiment of innocence. Soft light emphasizes the naturalness and ease of images. The frames are imbued with hippie romanticism and retro nostalgia. Hamilton's work can be accurately distinguished by blurry focus and coarse grain.
In his works, Hamilton captures that amazing moment when sensuality wakes up in a girl and she becomes a woman. In terms of art and artistic expression, his photographs are excellent. Excellent mastery of the technique, well-tuned composition, soft harmonious coloring are combined with that elusive sensation, which is called the atmosphere. However, there is a moral aspect: is it acceptable to portray girls, almost children, in such images?
Scandalous photographer
Erotica in the works of Hamilton is visible to the naked eye. It would seem that he is not the first and not the last to work in this particular genre. The piquancy of the situation is that the favorite models of the photographer are teenage girls. Art or not, society has not yet been determined. If in the seventies the attitude to sex and erotica was more relaxed, then by the nineties they were replaced by a conservative attitude. People staged pickets at bookstores selling Hamilton albums. For the storage of the photographer’s work it was quite possible to go to court. By the way, such a precedent actually took place in 2010. David Hamilton himself reacts coolly to attacks, stating that smart people will be able to distinguish obscenity from sensuality and appreciate the artistic aspect of his work.
David Hamilton Albums
The photographer’s first album was Dreams of a young girl, released in 1971. To date, more than fifteen publications have been released. Among them are David Hamilton, Souvenirs, The Young Girl, Un été à Saint-Tropez, A Place In The Sun, Holiday Snapshots. Perhaps the most famous was The Age of Innocence, published in 1995. Until now, the pictures from this album were the first to come to mind at the mention of a creative person named David Hamilton. Photoworks for publication are selected in a single key. In black and white photographs - the artist’s favorite models, girls of tender age, dressed very conditionally. Hamilton's latest edition is Erotic Tales. Since 2006, he has not released albums, but continues to be published in magazines.
Director's work
Hamilton became famous not only thanks to his pictures. In the 70–80s, he acted as the director of six feature films, and for two of them he wrote the script. All of them are erotic melodramas in which a young girl explores her nascent sensuality. The most famous of them are Bilitis, Laura and First Wishes. "Delicate cousins" and "Summer in St. Tropez" were continued in the form of the same photo albums. Hamilton’s films are not rated as highly by critics as his photographs, but they harmoniously fit into the master’s creative heritage.
The controversy surrounding the name David Hamilton has not subsided for several decades. While opponents of his work continue to discuss the moral merits of images, the income from their sales is estimated in millions. The master’s works adorn Carnegie Hall, the Royal Palace in Denmark and the Library of Congress . The photographer wrote his name in the story next to such masters as Helmut Newton and Henri Cartier-Bresson. No matter how envious and moralists try to slander David Hamilton, he remains one of the most talented photo artists of our time.