Friday, November 21, 2008

In Vogue (and soon, everywhere else): Emma Summerton


lily cole by emma summerton


Two weeks ago, in a post about Gemma Ward, frockwriter mentioned the name of photographer Emma Summerton. A Summerton shot of Ward appears in this month’s edition of Vogue Italia and Summerton also shot Ward, together with Lily Donaldson, for the February cover of i-D magazine. As it now emerges, Summerton is in fact Australian. And while she once worked for Australian Vogue – and lists the local edition on her client list - her lack of profile downunder could perhaps be explained by the fact that she has not lived here for 10 years. But Summerton is rapidly gaining momentum in the international fashion business via a slew of other major covers and editorial, with models.com founder Wayne Sterling recently hinting that Summerton could be about to “eat” some SS09 campaigns - calling her “the fastest rising new photographer on the scene”.



emma summerton/british vogue via TFS

That’s Summerton’s image of Eden Clark, Jourdan Dunn and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on the November cover of British Vogue and she also shot Lily Donaldson for the magazine’s August cover.

Summerton’s portfolio on the Maxim Fashion Agents website includes three other i-D covers over the past 12 months: Gemma Ward again for the cover of i-D’s September 2007 edition, Kate Moss for the magazine’s November 2007 edition and Raquel Zimmermann for i-D’s March 2008 cover.

As you can see by this list of recent work posted on models.com, Summerton has also recently shot some other big modelling names, including Natasha Poly and Catherine McNeil, for British and Italian Vogue, as well as i-D.



emma summerton/vogue italia via models.com


According to Maxim Fashion Agents, Summerton is a Fine Arts graduate from the National Art School in Sydney.

In this interview which has just gone up on The Ones To Watch, which tracks new talent in modelling and fashion creative, Summerton says she attended art school in 1988. This presumably places her in her late 30s.

Summerton worked as an assistant for five years before moving to London in 1998, where she worked as the assistant of artist Fiona Banner.

Summerton's client list also includes American and German Vogue, 10 magazine, Self Service, Dazed & Confused, Big Magazine and Nylon.

Her listed commercial clients include Yves Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, Strenesse, Topshop, Agent Provocateur, Selfridges, Sony Music and Heineken.


emma summerton/i-D/TFS via i-D

Getty Images also chose Summerton as part of its annual up-and-comer lineup for the photo agency’s New Photographers 2007 selection.

Another Australian, Simon Lekias, also got a lookin in Getty's 2007 new talent list.

Lekias' name, ironically, is much better known in Australia, where one assumes he remains based and where his biggest clients, as listed on his own website, include Harpers Bazaar, RUSSH, Grazia, Zimmermann and Sportsgirl.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a bit of extra info: Emma is from Wollongong, NSW.

Patty Huntington said...

from the gong, no less!

hey thanks rosie. and thanks also for your great iv. i had seen emma's name prior to that, but had not twigged that she is australian.

Anonymous said...

Judging from the photos displayed, it looks like her rise to prominence is due. Her photos are beautiful.

Style On Track said...

1 love her work, its like sexy manson goth meed high magazine glamour

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