A Fashionable Family Album Ellen Von Unwerth says that one she hates is "a stiffy." That's her term for a photograph that's too posed, too pretensious, too rigid in its emotion. Happily, the phrase can't be used to describe any of the pictures in her first book, Snaps (Twin Palms Publishers, $60). Soem words that can be used: sexy, funny, intuitive, spontaneous. In fact, it's hard to take your eyes off a Von Unwerth shot, whether the subject is supermodel Naomi Campbell vamping in a teeny-weeny, polka-dot bikini, or Ivana Trump playfully trussed in leather bondage, or a nude Drew Barrymore lounging in an overstuffed armchair. A former model from Germany who stepped behind the camera only eight years ago, Von Unwerth has in the last couple of years leaped to the top of the fashion world as one of Vogue magazine's stars. Even during the years of grunge, she brought a European sense of sophistication (and wit) to her work--Helmut Newton with a feminine edge. "I try to remember what I always wanted to do for the pictures when I was a model," Von Unwerth explains, "and I ask people to do that for me." The 96 black-and-white photos in Snaps include the best of her fashion and personal work; in the book's introduction, Ingrid Sischy, editor in chief of Interview magazine, describes Snaps as Von Unwerth's family album. The wondrous thing about these fashion images is that the photographer is able to make everyone--even complete strangers--seem like intimate members of her extended family.--Sue Alexander

Transcribed from January/February 1995 American Photo, "The Triumph of Photography 1995".

from the Ellen Von Unwerth portfolio at Art+Commerce

Getting Ready, Paris, 1994, taken for French Glamour