A Little Bit of Erotica and Acting

I like old, not entirely des­cent pic­tures. I col­lect silent movies; I admire their melo­drama and over react­ing. It seems like nobody likes silent movies any­more, but I simply wor­ship it – it is braver than mod­ern cinema.” – Ellen von Unwerth.

While being teen­ager, she worked at cir­cus, later became a model and finally unex­pec­tedly emerged in a world of pho­to­graphy. Despite that Ellen Von Unwerth doesn’t have edu­ca­tion as pro­fes­sional pho­to­grapher, her pho­tos are immensely sug­gest­ive, unique and stands out with its obvi­ous style.

Her photo series is lust­ful and effem­in­ate but at the same time frivol­ous and full of action. Photographer says that free­dom, pleas­ure and emo­tion­al­ity are most import­ant things while work­ing. Although she is attrib­uted to fash­ion pho­to­graphy, her pho­tos always have their story and action, while brand and accessor­ies are left at second plan.

I don’t do pho­to­graphs with a wish to receive reac­tions like – ‘Wow, look at that dress!’. — Ellen von Unwerth

She star­ted her career by sur­prise. While being a model, she dated a pho­to­grapher. Later, while liv­ing together, he showed her how to pro­cess film. Finally, one day he gave her photo cam­era as a gift and showed which but­ton makes it work and how to load film into it. Ellen then star­ted mak­ing pic­tures for her pleas­ure, while mod­el­ing over­board or just dur­ing vacations.

It took only 14 days for her first photo to be pub­lished. Girl sur­prised her friends and even more – her­self. After, her pho­tos were pub­lished in such magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, i-​D and became the face of such advert­ising cam­paigns as Guess, Victoria’s Secret, H&M ir Miu Miu. Author also released a couple of books: “Snaps”, “Couples”, “Wicked”, “Revenge” and Omahyra & Boyd.

Artist doesn’t stop with pho­to­graphy – she also dir­ects movies.

- What do you think about digital photography?

- I don’t like digital pho­to­graphy. I will use film as long as it will be made. I don’t think you can do work faster with digital cam­era. You can get pho­to­graph instantly, but retouch­ing takes forever, and it isn’t even cheaper, because retouch­ing isn’t cheap. So I really don’t know why it is being said that using a digital cam­era is bet­ter than a film cam­era. Using film you can get unex­pec­ted effect and pleas­antly sur­prise yourself.

Tools: Nikon and Contax photo cameras.

Kodak Tri-​X film.

Favorite: 35mm Nikon.

When she can, she chooses black and white film without doubt.

Renkantis mod­elius jai svar­bi­ausia ne išva­izda, o asmenybė. Norinčios pas ją pap­ulti mer­gi­nos turi turėti vel­ni­uką savyje, nebi­joti riz­ikuoti ir vaid­inti. Darbas grupėje, pil­nas atsip­alai­davi­mas ir fantazija — pag­rind­inė foto­grafės sėkmes priežastis.

About author:

Gintarė Žitkevičiūtė
Gintare Zitkeviciute is Art Pit’s thinker and doer. In her work practise, she values lean approach, creativity and quick decisions. She doesn't like working with random people and thinks that a team is a heart of successful project. For that reason, she carefully picks people she works with on everyday basis. She is mostly interested in innovatio... Read further >