Friday, April 02, 2010

Ocular oblectation...

You've seen it before and you like it. But the photographer of this image,"one of the iconic images of the 1970s" has died aged 63. (click on image for article in The Times) Martin Elliott was a photographic student in Birmingham in 1976 and took this picture of his girlfriend (the then 18-year-old Fiona Butler) on one of the university tennis courts. It sold millions of copies but "the early breakthrough was as much a curse as a blessing... ...clients assumed [that] his services would be too expensive".

In 2007 Fiona said "I like the fact that it's got a bit of an air of mystery about it... ...people kept wondering if it was anyone famous". No Fiona, we just liked your 'cheekiness'.

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1 comment:

Paul said...

Martin Elliott was interviewed on TV last year and he had a copy in his house above the staircase. He seemed a really genuine bloke and I think was surprised by what happened after the picture was printed.