Since a decade there is a renewed interest in the photography of David Hamilton. In the 70’s David Hamilton was a celebrity in France and became even so famous, that he was asked to direct two movies. The first was Bilitis (1977) and the second wasTendres Cousines (1980) . Of course these were made with his trademark soft focus, but when i viewed some fragments of both movies, it struck me that these were badly produced, badly acted and badly directed movies.
Conclusion….. for me David Hamilton is foremost a photographer ( and not a very good one) , who became popular because of shooting young adolescent girls. At that age ( late seventies), these photographs were accepted as being art, where as in present time there is criticism because of the age of the young girls. Different times and different mores. David Hamilton publications were popular all over the world and are now highly collectable items in Japan, Australia and China. Specially the Japanese collectors are keen on the french publications, because in quality terms, these are the very best among all David Hamilton publications. some are available at www.ftn-books.com
