The underlying affinity between artist and model is one of the fundamental constructs informing our reading of fashion photography and its wider diaspora of sensibilities and genres. Technical or conceptual nous are simply not enough on their own. Rather, it is the unspoken, the intuitive and the collaborative dynamic between photographer and subject – the creative bond, however fleeting – that breathes life into the image. Leading Sydney-based photographer Bec Parsons has made an international career off the back of her unique ability to connect.
Photographed in the early Spring of 2012 in New York City, the images that populate her debut book Coney Island not only capture a young Julia Nobis amidst the idiosyncratic surrounds of the beachside Brooklyn neighbourhood from which the book takes its title, but burrow somewhere deeper into model photographer’s mutual disposition and spirit. Among these concise, intimate and playful portraits, images of lush blossoms circulate. The allegory is clear. At this most pivotal moment for Nobis – then on the cusp of international fashion stardom – we don’t simply observe her transition from an aloof distance. Instead, Parsons ensures we wander with her.
Bec Parsons’ editorial work has been featured in major fashion publications including Harpers’ Bazaar, Vogue Australia, RUSSH, Manuscript, Dazed & Confused and Oyster; and also in LoveWant, the magazine she founded with her husband and fellow photographer Bartolomeo Celestino in 2005. Her timeless, minimal aesthetic is highly regarded, and has seen her at the forefront of the resurgence of analogue photography in fashion.
Julia Nobis entered the international scene in 2010 – where she walked exclusively for Calvin Klein at New York Fashion Week – and has since worked for every major fashion house, starring in campaigns for the likes of Prada, Celine, Saint Laurent, Dior and Dries van Noten, and regularly walking for up to 70 labels each fashion week. She has appeared on the cover of Vogue Australia, Vogue Italia, i-D and Numero, among countless others.
96 pp, section sewn softcover with dust jacket
Published by Perimeter Editions, Melbourne 2017
19.5 x 26.5 cm
Edition of 600
