David Hamilton: biography, photo albums, film work

David Hamilton is a French photographer of British origin. 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. Whatever it was, the scandal has always attracted 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 the UK. The war found him a schoolboy, the family had to be evacuated from London. However, after the conclusion of peace, they again returned here, and when David graduated from school, all moved to Paris. France became the second homeland of the photographer.

For a while, Hamilton worked as an architect, then as a designer at ELLE. At the beginning of his creative activity he was engaged in advertising and commercial photography. Career has developed rapidly, and soon Hamilton holds the post of art director in Queen, and a little later - in Printemps. Success quickly came to him. The works were printed in magazines throughout Europe, the corporate style became easily recognizable. Until now, the photographer holds exhibitions and publishes albums. His record also includes 6 films. He had a great influence on many modern photographers and filmmakers, which they readily admit.

Hamilton Style

As a rule, David Hamilton removes teenage girls or very young women. A model with loose hair, in light draping clothes or completely without them, almost without make-up appears as the embodiment of innocence. Soft light emphasizes the naturalness and ease of the images. The shots are imbued with hippy romanticism and retro nostalgia. It is possible to distinguish Hamilton's work with a fuzzy focus and a large grain.

In his works, Hamilton captures that wonderful moment when sensuality wakes up in a girl, and she becomes a woman. From the point of view of art and artistic embodiment, his pictures are excellent. Excellent technique, a verified composition, soft harmonious coloring combine with that elusive sensation, which is called the atmosphere. However, there is also a moral aspect: is it acceptable to portray girls, almost children, in such images?

Scandalous photographer

Eroticism in the works of Hamilton is visible to the naked eye. It would seem that he is not the first and not the last one who works in this particular genre. Piquancy of the situation is attached to the fact that the favorite models of the photographer are teenage girls. Art is it or not, the society has not been determined so far. If in the seventies the attitude to sex and erotic was calmer, 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 clever people will be able to distinguish obscenity from sensuality and appreciate the artistic aspect of his work.

David Hamilton's albums

The first album of the photographer was Dreams of a young girl, released in 1971. To date, there have been more than fifteen publications. Among them are David Hamilton, Souvenirs, The Young Girl, Un été à Saint-Tropez, A Place In The Sun, Holiday Snapshots. The most, perhaps, known was "Age of Innocence" (The Age of Innocence), published in 1995. Until now, the pictures from this album are the first to come to mind when mentioning a creative personality named David Hamilton. Photoworks for the publication are selected in a single key. On black and white pictures - favorite models of the master, girls at tender age, dressed very conditionally. The last edition to date of Hamilton is Erotic Tales. Since 2006, he has not released albums, but continues to be published in magazines.

Director's works of the master

Hamilton became famous not only for his photographs. In the 70's and 80's he acted as a director of six feature films, and to 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, Lora and First Desires. "Gentle cousins" and "Summer in Saint-Tropez" were continued in the form of the same photo albums. Hamilton's films are criticized not so highly as his pictures, but they fit harmoniously into the overall picture of the artist's creative heritage.

The controversy surrounding the name David Hamilton has not ceased for several decades. While opponents of his work continue discussing the moral merits of the images, the revenue from their sales is estimated at millions. Works of the master adorn Carnegie Hall, the Royal Palace in Denmark and the Library of Congress . The photographer wrote his name in history next to such masters as Helmut Newton and Henri Cartier-Bresson. No matter how hard they try to blackmail David Hamilton, envious and moralists, he remains one of the most talented photo artists of our time.