Inspiration Station: Sam Haskins

February 3, 2010 at 4:14 pm (Inspiration Station)

Today’s Inspiration Station post is dedicated to the late Sam Haskins, an extraordinary South African fashion photographer with an extensive portfolio.

Nicole Kidman (thanks to the Harper's Bazaar website)

Best known for his 1960s black and white photographic collections such as Cowboy Kate and Five Girls, I wanted to show some of his later works (thanks to Harper’s Bazaar’s latest issue for the inspiration). 

♥    Haskins started his career as an advertising photographer in Johannesburg.  

♥    His famous photographic books Five Girls (1962) and Cowboy Kate (1964) explored the naked female figure using grainy black and white photographic techniques. “He stripped the nude of all hesitancy, cliche, pretention and vulgarity, making it a natural aspect of life” according his website’s biography.

♥    He also often sculpted and painted graphic elements for his photographs and drew inspiration from a combination of illustration, film and modern graphic design.

♥    In 2002 Haskins and his wife Alida moved to Australia.

♥    Haskin’s earlier works influenced photographers and fashion designers alike. He did a shoot for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris in 2002 which resulted in a ‘rediscovery’ that then led to shoots in London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney working for fashion houses and magazines.

♥    In December 2006, the first retrospective exhibition of his work opened at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. This was also his first exhibition at a national museum/gallery.