David Hamilton

Mr. David Hamilton is photographing me
Like a pervert teacher with his languid creature
Sketching out an adolescent sexuality
Where Nature longs for Culture, Culture longs for Nature

(I changed the original picture because of copyright infringement, so the comments below by Mathilde are not referring to this bookcover).


I've been waiting for a chance to make a post on David Hamilton, the iconic 70s photographer. Above is a quote from Kahimi Karie's ode David Hamilton, which says it all, really. London-bred Hamilton made a classic lesbian movie (Bilitis, with music by Francis Lai), the best known film out of the five. He was born in 1933, is still alive and has a wonderful website devoted to him (here). It says there that "David pioneered the soft-focus style which has been imitated so often and is even known as 'the Hamilton look'. The technique gives many of his works more the appearance of an impressionist oil painting than a true-to-life crisp photographic image." That Hamilton-look is what I think of when I listen to music with that plopping bass-sound, a high pitched guitar and cheapo synths. Like Emmanuelle, Hamilton's photography and movies are quintessentially Seventies-French to me.
I just got in touch with Worm-Eaten Backdoors, a duo from Denver, Colorado who made an almost perfect track for the Hamilton-look, called Born in 1979. Close your eyes, and the film behind your eyes shows soft-focussed ballerinas almost immediatly.
'1979' always triggers that great song by Smashing Pumpkins, and that band made a lovely pastiche of a French Movie Theme from the same era. And finally there's the ode by Kahimi.

Francis Lai - Les 2 Nudités (from Bilitis OST)
Worm-Eaten Backdoors - Born in 1979
Smashing Pumpkins - French Movie Theme
Kahimi Karie - David Hamilton