fashion in disguise

In honor of the life, work and recent passing of photographer and visionary Deborah Turbeville I wanted to put together a small selection of her work which appeals to me on many levels for endless reasons. I instantly gravitate to her moody, haunted images that beg to tell a story or perhaps only part of it, leaving the viewer free to imagine the prelude or conclusion. I am also impressed by her lack of formal training and manipulation of the medium from soft focus to scratched negatives and over-exposurers. Her choices in settings are the stuff my dreams are made of and the selection of models is always off the beaten path, something that was not de rigueur in the 1960's when Deborah got her start. She is credited with changing the face of fashion photography which I can't argue against, but to me the bulk of her work is really worlds beyond fashion. Even in her most commercial moments she still conveys a feeling that spans her career… a feminine softness, a world-weariness, loss, uncertainty, the heavy and dark facets of female temperament along with all of its beauty and sensuality.