Collection 1 - Nude – Pure – Us!

358 KALTBLUT
hElMut nEwtOn POlarOIds
Exhibition Berlin till May 2012 www.helmut-newton.com
Polaroid technology revolutionized photography.
Those who have used a polaroid camera
can hardly forget the unique odor of its developing
emulsion and the thrill of the instant image.
With the polaroid, every image is one of a
kind. This also applies to the later large-format
polacolor prints, whose developing process
left behind characteristic borders.
Polaroids have thus been frequently used for
preliminary studies as well as a standalone
medium. This was already the case early on,
following the creation and presentation of the
instant photograph at the optical society of
America in 1947 by its inventor, Edwin Land –
and especially after he presented in 1972 the
legendary sx-70 system, a collapsible, simple
and affordable camera. In nearly all photographic
areas – from landscape and genre,
portrait and self-portrait, fashion and nudes –
this unique imaging process has found enthusiastic
devotees all over the world.
Helmut Newton used the technology intensively
starting in the 1970s, especially for his
fashion photo shoots. As he once described in
an interview, this satisfied his impatient urge to
want to know immediately how a certain situation
would look as a photograph. In this context,
the polaroid acted as an idea sketch in
addition to testing the actual lighting situation
and image composition.
In 1992 Newton published „Pola Woman“ an
unconventional book consisting only of his
polaroids. According to the photographer, the
publication lay particularly close to his heart,
although it was discussed amidst great controversy.
In response to the accusation that the
images in the book were not perfect enough,
he countered: “But that was exactly what was
exciting – the spontaneity, the speed.”