Dewey Nicks: Polaroids of Women

Dewey Nicks' ebullient fashion photography reminds you that people have forgotten how to have fun in fashion. -The New York Times

American photographer Dewey Nicks roared into the 1990s magazine world by filling his shoots with fascinating people and a vibe of boundless energy and nonstop fun. Publications such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, W and Vanity Fair kept Nicks moving seamlessly between celebrity, fashion and advertising assignments, his portfolio amassing a who's who of iconic women, including Cindy Crawford, Natalie Portman, Sofia Coppola, Patricia Arquette, Shalom Harlow and Cher, to name only a few.

Nicks recently found a forgotten box buried deep in his archive with thousands of Polaroids from his 1990s photo sessions. These one-of-a-kind favorites saved from hundreds of shoots, both private and assigned, offer an intimate portrait into Nicks' life, friends and work. The immediacy of Polaroids combined with the natural fading of the physical print after decades in a shoebox makes each of these images singularly unique and tangibly genuine. Nicks was so smitten with this time capsule of images that he immediately shared them with his frequent collaborator, book designer and publisher Tom Adler, and this beautifully produced book was born.

Dewey Nicks (born 1961) studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and has been working as a professional fashion and commercial photographer since 1986. In 1995, Nicks added directing commercials to his resume. An Ameritrade spot in 1999 garnered him the US Comedy Arts Festival Award for "The World's Funniest Commercial." That same year he became a Director's Guild nominee for outstanding directorial achievement in television commercials. In 2000 Greybull Press published Kustom, Nicks' first book of photographs, inspired by the very ideals and unique expression that originally attracted him to California. Nicks lives in Los Angeles.