June Newton has worked as a photographer since 1970 under the pseudonym Alice Springs, particularly in the field of portraits. At the beginning of Helmut Newton’s own work there was the flu. June Newton asked him to explain how to use the camera and light meter and in 1970 she photographed an advertising image for the French cigarette brand “Gitanes” in Paris. The portrait of the smoking model was the start for the new career of the Australian theater actress, who had little chances of being hired in France due to the language barrier. From the mid-seventies, numerous portraits were created, images of people full of empathy, which is so characteristic of Alice Springs.
She usually concentrates her camera view of people on their faces; sometimes she captures them in a narrow frame as a breast or three-quarter portrait. The subjects portrayed look curiously, openly and directly into their 35mm camera. Only a few studio portraits are included; the majority were taken – mostly in natural light – in public spaces and in the protagonists‘ apartments.
Alice Springs allows each person portrayed his or her own individuality. In doing so, she always succeeds in adding a new and unusual image to the generally valid and well-known image that is as free of clichés as possible. Perhaps her deep knowledge of acting helps her to simultaneously look at and behind the façade of humanity.
