Ellen Von Unwerth, Photographer

If you saw a teenager working at Germany'south Circus Roncalli every bit an assistant to clowns and knife throwers, where would you expect her to end upwards? We wouldn't have perceived her as a potential model or photographer ourselves, but that's how Ellen Von Unwerth'southward career turned out. On the other mitt, her work is full of sense of humor and quirky touches, so perhaps the progression is not so surprising after all.

Born in Frankfurt in 1954, and orphaned at the historic period of ii, she spent time in foster care in Bavaria. She thinks this influenced her subsequently, with the loneliness making her "strong and open to all kinds of people. I love getting to know people and jubilant life through photography", she has said.

Life in a Munich commune was interrupted by the arrival of that circus when she was eighteen. Three years after, Ellen Von Unwerth was discovered as she walked down a Munich street, and more life changes kicked in. A modelling career beckoned, and she followed it to Paris, where she became a long-term resident, or as Vogue described her, "more than half French".

On location in Kenya in 1984, Ellen picked up a camera and took photos of the other models. It turned into a feature for the French publication Jill, and that was information technology – her life took yet another direction. Five years afterwards, she shot an unknown High german daughter for Guess. That model was Claudia Schiffer, and for both of them, the shoot was a career-defining moment.

Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Face up, Interview, Arena, Twill, i-D, Vogue (on one occasion with way editor Grace Coddington), and L'Uomo Vogue. Having seen her photographs, we're not surprised that she won the 1991 International Festival of Way Photography. She has produced short films for tiptop designers, and adverts and spider web films for the likes of Clinique, Revlon and Equinox, oftentimes using celebrities.

Having married music producer Christian Forteau in 1990, it's mayhap logical that Von Unwerth includes music shoots in her portfolio, taking in promotions, albums and videos, for artists such as Duran Duran, Bananarama, Janet Jackson, All Saints, Dido, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Rihanna. We're star struck!

As you might expect by now, this versatile German language photographer has widened her scope once more along the way, this time with books. Wicked focuses on erotic images of cute women, while the aptly-titled Couples captures duos in sometimes comic fix ups. Revenge, a novella about a group of women on a wild weekend, was accompanied by exhibits in several cities. Fräulein, a limited edition of 1,500 signed copies, deals with "women with stiff personalities…who embrace their sexuality", co-ordinate to its author.

Fourth dimension magazine placed Ellen von Unwerth among its i hundred most influential way icons. She says that she meets people who confess to having pinned her pictures on their wall twenty years earlier, and citing them every bit inspiration for decisions made in developed life. And so we think that Fourth dimension magazine got it correct!

The featured photo is Taylor Warren Photographed By Ellen Von Unwerth For Vogue Gioiello

Ellen Von Unwerth For Chantal Thomass Lingerie Spring/Summer 2014