Summertime is coming, albeit very slowly and in fits and starts……but, the sun is surely on its way, yay! So when I saw that the Getty Images Gallery in London had a small exhibition of Slim Aarons work on, I knew it would be worth a trip. Being a big fan of Aarons’ work, especially his images documenting dreamy summers in the 60’s, I was pretty certain that taking some time out to gaze at his work would pop a spring in my step. And it did.
Joining the US Army in the 1930’s and serving as a photographer for the US military magazine ‘Yank’, Slim Aarons decided that the only beaches worth landing on were ‘decorated with beautiful, semi-nude girls tanning in a tranquil sun’. Along with his contemporary Henri Cartier Bresson, Aarons was also a pioneer of candid photography, preffering to show people in real situations, snapshots of life’s moments. And so after the war he headed to California to make a life photographing the rich and famous; creating some of the most beautiful depictions of life I have ever seen. Timeless and glorious, perfect compositions and breathtaking scenes. A lifestyle we surely all dream about living.
Swoon.
