Helmut Newton: Autobiography Hardcover – 30 October 2003

Fascinating insight into the life of an amazing photographer - deeply personal - definately not a 'I met ..... ' name dropping book - full of his real life and character and life's difficulties right from his childhood as a Jew in Nazi Germany during WWII - I do not normally read autobiographies - but have read this 3 times and take it with me as a dip into book if I think I am going to be stuck somewhere for a while !

The format is small but the quality is OK and if you just want a simple introduction then this is a good choice. It has some of the more famous as well as a range of other photographs, so it does the job.

Good photo book

An interesting book, a life that no one would imagine and although this eminent photographer past away, he left a lot of beauty for us to remember him.

Helmut Newton's autobiography is a real delight, and must also be the cheapest Helmut Newton book to be made available anywhere. For someone who hated school and failed to reach his parents' expectations he is an exceptional writer. But more than this the book is an inspiration for anyone who seriously is considering a career in photography.This is because despite various hardships, brought on largely by Nazi anti-Semitism and persecution which murdered his uncle, and also his original employer a photographer called Yva Newton remains positive. He doesn't dwell on the horrors, and the hardships of internment as a stateless alien in Australia followed by four years of military service in the Australian forces. Instead he describes in great detail how he 'laid' his way across Europe, Asia and 'down under' before meeting his beloved wife June Browne, [who is also takes photographs professionally under the pseudonym Alice Springs].The couples' sometimes tempestuous, but always loving relationship reveals the strains that a photographer's lifestyle can place upon a relationship.As the book progresses Newton leaves Australia with June to work for London Vogue. "My pictures were a disaster", he writes.Subsequently the couple settled in Paris where they struggled to make ends meet, even though Newton was regularly employed by French Vogue, as well as Elle and other publications. Nevertheless sometimes he also was forced to go to Berlin to photograph collections for very little return,The couple vacillated about whether to live in Australia or Europe. In Australia Newton's career was successful and his finances were stronger, but to be in the first rung of photography he needed to be either in Europe or the USA.In due course the Newtons settled in Paris, living there for over twenty years, later they moved to Monte Carlo.It must have been shortly after his heart attack in America that I first came across Helmut Newton's work. It is the original 'Porno Chic' that has moved his work into art galleries across the globe. Newton always insisted he was't an artist, but a 'gun for hire'.The book is well produced and contains a number of images from Newton&'s life and work. It must be said however that this is primarily a work of text and not a 'fine art' book. Many of Newton's images from such works as 'Big Nudes';, and 'White Women&; are there, but in order to see them at their best readers should refer to Newton's other books, which are printed to reproduce the quality of the photographs and contain less text.Stephen BrayAuthor: Photography and Psychoanalysis: The Development of Emotional Persuasion in Image Making.