4 Photos It takes a lot to make Gilles Bensimon nervous. Over the course of his 20-year tenure at Elle, the photographer has snapped many an imposing subject — Madonna, Naomi Campbell, J.Lo’s derriere — none of which have gotten him skittish. “I was very anxious for this, I must say,” Bensimon admits over the phone on Thursday, calling while on vacation in Biarritz, France. The photographer’s jittery streak was triggered by his new exhibition on display now in London’s Hamiltons Gallery titled “Watercolour.” It’s no misnomer. For the series, which Bensimon has been developing for the past two years, the photographer submerged freshly cut flowers underwater, taking close-up shots from above. The result is a mesmerizing, painterly composition. Flushes of magenta, swirls of citron and inky blurs of violet imbue into each other through the watery filter, sunlight shimmering off its surface, rendering a glossy, almost surreal image.
4 Photos It takes a lot to make Gilles Bensimon nervous. Over the course of his 20-year tenure at Elle, the photographer has snapped many an imposing subject — Madonna, Naomi Campbell, J.Lo’s derriere — none of which have gotten him skittish. “I was very anxious for this, I must say,” Bensimon admits over the phone on Thursday, calling while on vacation in Biarritz, France. The photographer’s jittery streak was triggered by his new exhibition on display now in Londo
n’s Hamiltons Gallery titled “Watercolour.” It’s no misnomer. For the series, which Bensimon has been developing for the past two years, the photographer submerged freshly cut flowers underwater, taking close-up shots from above. The result is a mesmerizing, painterly composition. Flushes of magenta, swirls of citron and inky blurs of violet imbue into each other through the watery filter, sunlight shimmering off its surface, rendering a glossy, almost surreal image.