DUBAI: French fashion photographer Hugo Comte released his first career photography book this week. The new monograph shines the spotlight on all the women who have inspired him along the way, including part-Palestinian model Bella Hadid, British-Albanian popstar Dua Lipa and Russian supermodel Irina Shayk, among others.
Comte collaborated with art director David McKelvey on the 200-page-book and focused on featuring existing and never-before-seen portraiture of his muses in the new tome.
The book, which is self-published, celebrates the first five years of his photography career.
In addition to previously published portraits, the book also features never-before-seen works — special pieces made in collaboration with airbrush artists to repaint his imagery, as well as unique computer-generated pieces.
“I really wanted to create an object that is the symbol of my first years of work. I started to really feel that people created a sort of identity around me from that time period,” he said to WWD.
“I feel (portraiture) is the most intimate part of my work and where I express myself the best. Group shots don’t allow such intimacy. When I shoot an image, I always try to give the feeling that the woman is not being photographed but that she is looking through the camera, which gives a direct contact between the viewer and the muse,” he added.
The prolific imagemaker’s newly-released tome is untitled, instead the photographer wants to let his work speak for itself.
After arriving on the scene not long ago, he has quickly ascended to being one of the most-followed photographers on the Internet.
He is known for working with some of the world’s most-photographed women, such as Kendall Jenner, Vittoria Ceretti and Adut Akech.
Memorably, he lensed Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” album artwork.
The launch of the book is accompanied by an exhibition at Los Angeles’ Tase Gallery, where Comte will have a one-week show from Feb. 25 – March 3 of seven selected works in the brand new gallery space.
The Book is also available for sale on HugoComte.com. It is limited to 2,500 copies, the first 50 of which have been signed by Comte.
