helen mirren by lord snowdon
Helen Mirren by Lord Snowdon, 1995 for Vanity Fair
So the other day Alexandre, my sweetest neighbour Alexandre, lent me the first 2 “seasons” of Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren. I had seen some of the episodes on French television a few years ago and my recollection of the series was that it was quite good but mostly it was worth watching for the female detective played by Helen Mirren.
And sure enough, the thing is a bit dated now, but then there’s her.
Helen Mirren.
I love her. Totally. Absolutely.
I looked for a picture of her to post here, at first couldn’t find anything with a mention of the photographer – because who cares, right – until I stumbled on this article by photographer Amber Rima on her blog Sprinkled In Pink.
This portrait by Lord Snowdon was featured in the exhibition that took place at The National Portrait Gallery in London from February to May 2008 entitled “Vanity Fair Portraits / Photographs 1913 – 2008″. (The exhibition is about to open in Canada. It will be at the Royal Ontario Museum from September 26, 2009 to January 3, 2010.)
But back to the Mirren/Snowdon picture. Something funny happened and browsing the web I found myself living my own little version of “Blow-Up”, for I found on the site of the Chris Beetles Gallery a version of the photograph with a different “framing”. Also the coloring is quite different. It seems much more orange. See below :
Helen Mirren, 1995 by Snowdon.
It is not unusual for the press to cut into the pictures, to reframe them, so Vanity Fair kept the square format but zoomed in on Helen Mirren. My guess as to the different color tone, is that their version being less yellowy feels a bit more modern.
(There has been a retrospective of Snowdon at the National Portrait Gallery in 2000 and you can see the photo of Helen Mirren with the same warm tone and framing as the one @ the Chris Beetles Gallery.)
Now the funny thing about all this, is that I found a different photo of the same shooting on this article at the Daily Mail Online and she’s actually smiling :
Helen in her dressing room, 1995, by Lord Snowdon.
Photograph of Helen Mirren © Snowdon.
Snowdon @ the Chris Beetles Gallery.
Vanity Fair
You can buy the book Vanity Fair: The Portraits: A Century of Iconic Images @ the Vanity Fair Store.
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96 images from the book are available for purchase as gallery-quality custom prints here.