As a prominent artistic school, Artistic Glamour Photography has been altered dramatically through the past years; knowledge of what happened to it earlier can give us the clue of what awaits glamour images in the future. After countless changes and transformations, numerous revolutions and much controversy, glamour photography became what we can see today.

I will gladly take you on a short mind trip from the very dawn of Glamour Photographs to their modern state – afterwards we will dabble in foreseeing their probable future.

Early Years. It is a very controversial issue of where the history of glamour photo really begins. Some derive it from so-called “French postcards” which were quite popular in the streets of Paris in the early 1900’s, some address to Victorian pioneers of this art. There are even people who seek the roots of glamour images in Renaissance and Baroque. To put it simply, the question of origin of glamour images is far from being answered. What I think is that the most likely period in which beauty photography was born is 1920’s and 1930’s, which were quite a vibrant time in terms of arts and culture. It is from the first half of twentieth century that we can finally gasp distinguishable and credible information about glamour photography.

Glorious 50’s and Onwards. Those were difficult but glorious years. Betty Grable conquered the hearts of the audience before the war started, and remained one of the prominent figures in glamour photography ever since; Marilyn Monroe brought even more recognition to glamour photography by her famous appearance on Playboy’s cover in 1953. Pamela Green and other famous and charming models contributed to glorifying glamour photography at its finest, winning the heart of audience worldwide.

Modern Times – Going Digital. As time passed, beauty photography became colorful, frivolous, scandalous and much more ingenious. New names started conquering the stage, glamour magazines and beauty photography admirers – those were Dita von Teese, Heidie Van Horne, Lucy Pinder, Bernie Dexter and many others. Additionally, digital format started dominating in photographic arts. Technical progress improved the visual quality of glamour pictures and made the process of shooting dead simple. Everyone with a DSLR camera could become another glamour artist. In a combination with Web technologies, this was like a clamor of billions and billions of both talented people and senseless dabblers.

3D – What Does it Bring? Now we are at the beginning of something completely different – 3D-rendered glamour pictures have become another fancy, competing with traditional photography. 3D modeling is an art as well, and a complex one, but it seems to be taking over the field of glamour images. I strongly believe that no artificial computer rendering can ever excel the natural beauty and genuine work of a talented photographer. In this fight of old and new I remain with the side of inspiration, live relationship and hard studio work.

I feel optimistic about the future – oils, film and digital have found their admirers and seem immortal. The art of 3D cannot take over, but rather find its own audience, just like digital and film photography. It is not technology that is behind each glamour picture – it’s the soul, the inspiration and the dedication: that of photographer and the model. No real photographer ever forgets this – and I’m sure that neither will you.

Glamour Photo Ressources