Two attractive women it in lounge chairs beside a teal-blue pool, looking fabulous and moneyed. A third, all legs and carefree attitude, strides toward them with a drink in her hand. In the background is a modern glass-and-stone house and purplish mountains. The landscape is idyllic. The sunlight is hazy and golden. You would live inside the photo if you could.
“Poolside Gossip,” taken by the society photographer Slim Aarons at the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, Calif., has become as much a symbol of modernism as the Richard Neutra home that was its setting. The ladies poolside: Nelda Linsk, right, wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk who owned the home when the photo was taken, is talking to a friend, Helen Kaptur. Actress Lita Baron approaches the ladies in the background.
What makes Poolside Glamour so enigmatic, such an iconic piece of art? It represents a rarely experienced but widely envied ideology of aristocracy and celebrity; magnificent, suntanned bodies; well-oiled skin; bikini-clad women, yachts & summer cocktails. Aarons encapsulates both the modern glamour of Palm Springs and a marriage of architecture and elegant living.
Ysabel LeMay's phantasmagorical nature photographs defy all odds. In a world where nature photography has been done to death, LeMay' creates unique images that radiate with awe.