1960s Retail Fashion Photography

1960s retail fashion photography

During 1965, working as assistant to leading Brisbane commercial photographer, Geoff Dauth, I was introduced to fashion photography. Geoff had a great reputation as a fashion photographer, and he taught me all the basics before allowing me to shoot some advertising material. This is the very first fashion picture I ever shot, for newspaper reproduction.

The model on the right is Tammy Hubbard, twin sister of Jill Hubbard. They were Brisbane’s busiest models of the day. A good model could make a lot of money, particularly from retail sale advertising, where they were paid per garment, rather than an hourly rate. A good model was not simply a clothes-horse, they had to be highly photogenic, and creative in their posing, as well as being able to follow direction. Another great attribute was speed in applying makeup and changing outfits.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the elegant model on the left. Perhaps someone who knows her could let me know her name via Comments (below).

The studio had a wall with large windows, so most of these types of shots were made in daylight, using big white reflectors to soften shadows, where necessary. The picture was shot on a Linhof Technica with a 120 film back. The film was Ilford’s wonderful HP-3.

N.B. Giclée prints are available of this picture, see Shop