Dovima with Elephants by Richard Avedon, 1955

I am a huge fan of the stunning photos from fashion photographer Richard Avedon. Below you will find some gorgeous photos from Dovima shot by Avedon. She was a Supermodel during the 1950s and reputed to be the highest-paid model of her time. ”Dovima with Elephants” was one in a series of pictures Avedon began making in Cirque d’Hiver, Paris, in August 1955, has become an icon. The gown was the first evening dress designed for Christian Dior by his new assistant, Yves Saint-Laurent.

Dovima with elephants, Evening dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, August 1955

When it took place, New York-born Avedon was 32 and had been a professional  photographer for ten years. He had been recruited to work as a staff photographer for Harper’s Bazaar in 1945 soon after completing his military service, by the influential art director Alexey Brodovitch. Avedon, with his enthusiasm, inventiveness and instinctive visual flair, soon established himself  as a significant new voice in fashion photography.

The model chosen for the Cirque d’Hiver shoot was known as Dovima. Her real name was Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba, but she created her professional name from the first two letters in her three given names. Tall and slender, Dovima epitomised 1950s style and was said to be one of  the highest-paid models of the period. She and Avedon often worked  together and Dovima later commented that the two of them ‘became like mental Siamese twins, with me knowing what he wanted before he explained it. He asked me to do extraordinary things, but I always knew I was going to be part of a  great picture.’ For this particular Harper’s Bazaar shoot, Dovima was asked to pose close to four circus elephants. The shoot took place on a hot summer’s day. Avedon later recalled that when he entered the area where the elephants were kept, he saw that the animals were beautifully lit by natural light. ‘I saw the elephants  under an enormous skylight and in a second I knew … there was the potential here  for a kind of dream image.’ 

Richard Avedon, selfportrait

Avedon went on to become one of America’s most celebrated and influential photographers, particularly for his fashion and portraiture and was still creating new work up to his death at the age of 81 in 2004. About Dovima: ‘She was  the last of the great elegant, aristocratic beauties,’ said Avedon, ‘the most remarkable and unconventional beauty of her time.

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Source: A.G. Nauta Couture
Photos: courtesy of Richard Avedon

Beautiful photo from photographer Gregory Colbert - Ashes & Snow (01)

Beautiful photo with inspiring quote from the Dalai Lama. This is just one photo from the stunning serie photos 'Ashes & Snow' made by photographer / filmmaker Gregory Colbert. I wrote earlier another blog about this fantastic photographer, see THIS BLOG

More about the photographer

Photographer/filmmaker Gregory Colbert is the creator of the exhibition 'Ashes and Snow', an immersive experience of nature that combines photographic artworks, films and soundscapes, housed in a purpose-built traveling structure called the Nomadic Museum. To date, 'Ashes and Snow' has attracted over 10 million visitors, making it the most attended exhibition by any living artist in history.

Colbert was born in Toronto, Canada in 1960. He began his career in Paris in 1983 making documentary films on social issues. His first exhibition, Timewaves opened to wide critical acclaim in 1992 at the Museum of Elysée in Switzerland. For the next ten years, Colbert went off the grid and did not publicly share his art or show any films. He began traveling the world to photograph and film wondrous interactions between animals and humans.

After ten years passed, Colbert returned to present 'Ashes and Snow' at the Arsenale in Venice, Italy in 2002. With his debut, Photo magazine declared: "A new master is born.” The New York Times, in an article by Alan Riding stated: “The power of the images comes less from their formal beauty than from the way they envelop the viewer in their mood. They are simply windows to a world in which silence and patience govern time.” Ashes and Snow has been described as "extraordinary" by the Economist and "distinctive monumental in every sense" by the Wall Street Journal. Stern Magazine described the photographs as "fascinating" and Vanity Fair named Gregory Colbert in its "Best of the Best."

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Source: Gregory Colbert

PHOTOGRAPHY: ELEPHANT LOVE

Photo via Pinterest.