That Substitute

AT 10 CORSO COMO, during rare and limited free time, I took the opportunity to look around the book shop, as well as visit the currently running exhibition, People, featuring portraits by Alice Springs. It was under this pseudonym, Alice Springs, that Helmut Newton's wife June built her oeuvre, with a stand-in photography stint for French cigarettes Gitanes as her first project; she was standing in for her husband who was at the time suffering the flu.

What was temporary substitution served to jump-start a new career for Mrs. Newton. One that would produce images celebrated in fashion and advertising, as well as by the glittering people whose personas she would immortalize and iconize.

Glittering people whose pets got snapped along too!

Indeed, opportunity presents itself in unexpected ways. Chance may bring about possibilities but practice shapes them into realities. Go get it when it comes at you!

Alice Springs People runs until April 22, 2012 at Galleria Carla Sozzani, www.galleriacarlasozzani.org Images from Helmut Newton Foundation, www.helmut-newton.com