“I LOVE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. I LOVE TO SHOW THEIR PERSONALITY, THEIR SEXUALITY. THERE'S A FASHION SIDE TO MY EROTIC PICTURES: I LOVE BEAUTIFUL SHOES AND JEWELLERY. BUT THE EROTIC WORK I DO IS TOO DARING AND PROVOCATIVE FOR A FASHION MAGAZINE. IT'S MORE FUN, AND IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT GIRL WHO LIKES IT, MORE EXCITING, TOO. IT'S FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY, BUT WITH FEWER CLOTHES.”
- Ellen Von Unwerth
Ellen Von Unwerth (b. 1954) worked as a fashion model for ten years before moving behind the camera. Quoted as saying "Women are not just there to be admired, they are there to be enjoyed," her erotically charged images of models, film and music stars are as well know as the subjects of the photographs themselves.
A supermodel before the phrase was truly coined, von Unwerth is responsible for several books of photography, as well as directing fashion short films and music videos. Top journals such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Arena, L'Uomo Vogue and I-D have been addicted to her inimitable fashion photography since she first picked up a camera. Her shots of Claudia Schiffer for a Guess campaign mark the beginning of her success as a fashion photographer. Since then, top journals such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Arena, L'Uomo Vogue and I-D have been addicted to her inimitable fashion photography since she first picked up a camera. In 1991, she won the first prize at the International Festival of Fashion Photography, and in 1998 the American Photo Magazine described her as one of the most important people in photography.
