“To enjoy life, we must touch much of it lightly”

One of my favorite photographers, Sam Haskins, who passed away in 2009, left behind big shoes to fill. Below is a great photograph by him - portraying the common humorous erotica in his compositions - with vivid sex appeal while his model is cradling a bust of Voltaire. The photo was taken in his Johannesburg studio circa 1962, and was featured in the Five Girls series.

Sam, my love

Again, I must display Sam Haskins. I love his work - his representation of the female nude body was seen as an innovative new turn in fashion photography, when he first came on the scene. I most especially love his use of scenery ultimately relating to the body in his images. He either has landscape in parallel to the human form or attitude- hands down, amazing work. I recently have purchased a photo book of his "Cowboy Kate" series, below are some images I have in my collection on my desktop in the "Sam, my love" folder

Strangely, I sometimes see similarities between Haskins's use of the body and landscape in Ryan McGinley's work as well (below is an example image by him). McGinley has more sense of body movement in his work, but his representation of the sole body with the bare background, touches on several aspects of Haskins's work

pre-PhotoShop

fun YSL

vintage YSL - after these pieces were shot by Sam Haskins they were sent to a museum

@ work

From RUSSH magazine
"Sam Haskins at Work in his Johannesburg studio, 1961. From FASHION ETCETERA, courtesy of Haskins Press."

RIP

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High-Light: Sam Haskins

"Nobody ever discovered ugliness through photographs. But many, through photographs, discovered beauty" Susan Sontag