HELMUT NEWTON AT TOPSHOP!

•  Helmut Newton At TopShop! – TopShop toured an instant photography installation called The Newton Machine round some of its stores earlier this month. Named after the late Helmut Newton, TopShop's Newton Machine was an installation of a self-photography solution inspired by this celebrated photographer. Newton was dismissive of other photographers whose reputations he believed were based mainly on the qualities of the model they partnered with. He thought the model was effectively the better photographer! He devised a set-up that allowed a model to photograph herself. This is what TopShop replicated in-store for its customers this month, in London, Manchester and Dublin. [expand story >>>]

TopShop's Newton Machine was a marketing promotion based around a studio installation that allowed the store's customers to come in, dress as they pleased from the TopShop wardrobe, be professionally made-up, and take their own self-styled fashion photo using a remote trigger. The Machine was quite a faithful reproduction of Newton's original set-up, using a mirror, marks on the floor where the model should stand, and the original brand of lighting. (The Times Online published a story about it, including a web video clip.)

Newton's original had a serious purpose, "to heighten the tension of the modelling session and to catch the model at the peak of each pose". To this end he incorporated an adjustable motor-drive that allowed the model to choose to work fast or slow, and a bell that would go off just before each shot was triggered. The studio strobes would trigger in sync with the shot.


TopShop Marketing Manager, Lara Einzig, came across the idea in Newton's autobigraphy and thought customers would love it. She saw it could work well in today's culture of shared, self-generated images, like those on FaceBook and MySpace. Being able to have fun, pose as a model, get images posted online, and instantly be given prints to take away and share, would encourage customers to come in and try on outfits.

It also created a favourable association between TopShop's own image and the legacy of the renowned Vogue photographer. The retailer worked with the Helmut Newton Foundation, and Newton's agent, to recreate the Machine. The waiting room for customers queing to use it was supplied with books of his work.

Event and Snap Shot Photography companies could learn from this. It's an inspired and well thought out application of instant photography, one that could be adapted in many ways and proposed for many purposes. You could seduce event organizers and marketing people with this idea, or sell the experience directly to the public. And you can improve on it too – TopShop were averaging a bit longer than a minute a print to output A5 prints on an A4 inkjet. Using dye sub technology you could print an 8"x10" in the same time, or several 6"x9"s.

The only draw back is psychological. Newton's Machine can raise the anxiety of a certain type of photographic auteur about a secret fear – that much of the genius of photography may be inherent to the medium, rather than the artist, and that others may discover this!
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