April 8, 2010

Tennis Girl photographer Dies

The photographer who took the famous "Tennis Girl" photo - the most published photo in the world - has died.


Martin Elliott took the photo in 1976 for an Athena calendar, and his 18-year-old girlfriend at the time, Fiona Butler, was happy to pose for it. She's been quoted as saying "I'm not at all embarrassed about that photo."

Looking at it again, I'm not sure what I like best about it: the blatant bare bottom fetishism, the quality of late-afternoon sunlight, or the corona of fine blonde hairs on her arms and legs, catching and diffusing that light in an effect that is all too rare in this age of shaved-smooth skin.

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