Janice : Mustique 1983
Many think that my shooting for Playboy was a highlight in my career as a photographer. Actually, it was shooting fashion for magazines like Vogue.
Arguably, the best of them was Italian Bazaar during the time that Lizette Kattan was the editor. She was smart, understood talent, and gave photographers total freedom to shoot as they pleased. Further, a photographer was asked to turn in only 3 to 5 transparencies of each shot… the photographer could keep all the rest of the film. And, as photographers, we were allowed to choose many of our own models which allowed for the discovery of new model talent.
Vogue and Bazaar, USA were inclined to book only the models they considered to be stars or rapidly rising talents in the world of modeling. So, I was denied booking Cindy Crawford for Bazaar, USA at the time she was unknown (but a major model in Chicago).
This photo of Janice Dickinson, done in a swimming pool, on the island of Mustique was not part of my fashion assignment. Rather, it was a fun shot, styled by the extrordinary Parisian talent (makeup artist for Christian Dior), Tyen. (Tyen, subsequently, went on to become a top fashion photographer, himself.)
Janice was already a major model with whom I had worked quite often. For this shot, Tyen put the garland of flowers about Janice’s head. I plucked one petal and put it between her teeth.
My Gitzo tripod was submerged in the pool and a Nikon F3 was mounted just above water level (later that year, I switched to Leica cameras, but that’s another story). I took my Gitzo into oceans and other hostile (to tripods) environments. Each night, my assistant would dismantle the tripod, wash it in fresh water, dry it and reassemble it in the morning.
As my photographic prints go, this shot of Janice has been my most popular print after any image of Gia (Carangi) that I may have done (Gia has a wicked fan base).
Oh, and though it was not part of my fashion shoot, Bazaar Italia, ran this (similar) image across two pages. That’s why I shoot so many horizontally formatted images!
Available for sale asGreeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters
tonilouise
Breathtakingly beautiful
maremarie
This is very, very beautiful indeed! The combination of colours is so pleasing to the eye, and I really like how the tones of the flowers recur on the models face, in a softer way. It’s also fascinating to hear the story behind the photograph – being able tp work as a photographer must be very fulfilling :-)