Albert Watson. The Greatest Living Photographer Today

I had the opportunity and honor to work with Albert Watson when I was a model. For those who aspire to be photographers, Albert Watson is, to me, the greatest living photographer today.

Working with Albert was always a pleasure. His focus and professionalism was always contagious, and he engaged everyone on the shoot to attain his vision of what he wanted to see in camera. I guess what I love the most about Albert is his love for photography and how he loves to share stories and insights on taking pictures. As a model, I always knew that when I was being photographed by Albert, that those photos would be masterpieces. Some of them are on gallery walls and museums now. Everything I learned about photography was from Albert. He was my greatest teacher.

I was in Toronto last week to attend the opening of Albert Watson's Retrospective at the Izzy Gallery in Yorkville. I had booked my trip months ago and was looking forward to see Albert, his wife Liz and their son, Aaron. Hurricane Sandy put a dent in the original plan for the Watson's, so they ended up driving to Toronto from NYC. It was touch and go for the opening, but they managed to arrive in one piece and everything went as planned. I was so happy to see Albert after so many years and to have a picture of me on the wall of the gallery.

When one choses a career in life, we choose goals along the way. One of my big goals as a model was to work for Vogue and to be photographed by Albert Watson. That goal (and dream) came true many times as I worked with Albert on many occasions such as Italian Vogue, Blumarine, Stern, Macy's, Clairol, L'Oreal, to name a few and travelled to wonderful locations such as Scotland, Paris and an amazing road trip through Texas.

To see my photograph on the wall of a gallery as a limited edition is the greatest honor I have ever received as a model. But even better was to be praised in front of the whole photography community at a seminar in Toronto by Albert himself referring to me as one of the most professional and patient models he has ever worked with. That is priceless.

Albert Watson's Retrospective is on at the Izzy Gallery in Yorkville until December 27, 2012.

VOGUE and Underweight Models: Spring Summer 2012

Over the past week there has been a lot of chatter about Vogue banning underaged models and girls that have eating disorders. I think its a great initiative, but to be perfectly honest, it sounds like another round of lip service and will quickly be forgotten as fast as last season's trends. I hope I am proven wrong.

I worked as a model in the late 80's early 90's in New York Paris and Milan. I remember an episode of 20/20 with Barbara Walters in 1991 interviewing the feminist writer Naomi Wolf ,who had just wrote a book called 'The Beauty Myth'. Ms Wolf was going on saying that "100,000 plus women die of anorexia every year, because of images they see in magazines".

What did she use as an example of the images that cause this epidemic of anorexia?

A picture of ME!

Boy was I floored.  How could she say such a thing? She had never met me and didn't know me personally??? First of all, I was and am NOT anorexic. I was beyond shocked and mad at Naomi Wolf for saying that I was 'probably anorexic and probably not menstruating', and for using my picture to illustrate what was causing anorexia in teenagers. Her remarks were hurtful and they offended me. Couldn't have been further from the truth.

Luckily, they interviewed Helen Gurley Brown, (the famed editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine back in the day when they had those amazingly sexy cover photos shot by Francesco Scavullo). She said that  models eat like race horses to be able to keep up with their workload and travelling. At least the grand dame of the magazine world was defending me and my fellow models.

For those of you that remember the early 90's in fashion, the look was total Glamazon. The models were a lot curvier and healthier looking than the girls are today. The models that I see in the magazines nowadays are truly retouched within an inch of their lives. We can thank the addiction to Photoshop for that.

I think that to be true to all, the use of Photoshop should be restricted to just touching up ever so slightly, not to reconstruct and misconstrue someones natural body shape. I believe that if Vogue began to limit the use of Photoshop in its editorials, this would also be a step in the right direction. Its needs to be part of their mandate as well. It would also separate the real photographers from the chaff. But thats a whole other blog post.

Banning underage models is to be applauded. Banning models that have eating disorders is also a good initiative, but I can't see how Vogue is going to discern who is naturally slim (ie. Gisele) and who has an eating disorder.

Give us back the fantasy and the beauty of the fashion photo. Fashion is a fantasy, yet it still needs to root itself somewhat in reality.

Irving Penn...the Last Great Photographer

Being a fashion model in the late 80's and 90's, I had the opportunity to work with some of the best photographers out there. There are not many people who can say that they have worked with Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Albert Watson, Patrick Demarchelier, Steven Meisel and Mario Testino. But there was one photographer who I considered the best over and above all the others. Irving Penn. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to work with him. He passed away yesterday at the age of 92.
He was known for being a perfectionist and it shows in his photos. The lighting, the aesthetic, the poses, were all just so amazing. I remember seeing his still lifes in Vogue and was always in awe at the simplicity of the image, but with the knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes to get the shot(remember, this was before Photoshop and onsite editing). Everyone has seen at least one of his adverts for Clinique.
There will never be another Irving Penn. The New York Times did a wonderful story on his life and his work.
He will continue to set the standard for photographers and art directors for years to come.But there will never be another Penn.