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Dreams of a Young Girl
Evocative and erotic photographs capture the anticipations, reflections, discoveries, moods, and forms of adolescent female sensuality
- GenresArtYoung AdultPoetry
142 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
David Hamilton
38 books18 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 20, 2012
I "borrowed" Dreams of a Young Girl from my parents when I moved out. You know, just to make sure that this beautiful collection of hazy, dreamy photographs of young girls would get dusted off once in a while.
David Hamilton, ever obsessed with that brief phase in which children turn into women, that short-lived moment of unawareness of their own beauty, peaked in the 70's. Those were the days of Studio 54, Emmanuelle and (Dutch blockbuster) Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight), which matched his photography perfectly.
And all he seemingly needed was natural light and a dab of petroleum jelly on his lens to capture that soft-focused effect in his sepia-tinted work: photographs of barefoot beauties in flowery fields, with slender bodies and budding breasts poking through their white cotton lace summer dresses.
They made him world-famous, his books sold hundred thousands of copies. Back then, posters of his girls in their large cotton panties, sharing a canopied bed to take a nap, decorated the rooms of not only teen boys, but families too. For a long time, no one considered his soft-focus erotica indecent or seriously inappropriate.
But that would change.
In the early 80's, Hamilton's art got out of fashion and later, when the morality police started running rampant and that dreaded paedophilia-word entered the scene, his photography suddenly turned into something edgy and risque (forbidden even in some countries), and raised awkward - but perhaps necessary - questions as; are Hamilton's girls women or are they still children? Is it okay to publish Lolita-ish nudity? And even though we now consider and know that it's not quite so innocent to eroticise young girls, does that make Hamilton's art less beautiful?
Oh, to gain back a little of the seemingly simplicity of the 70's! If a dab of petroleum jelly would be all it took...
..to be able to run around in a poppy field, wearing giant cotton panties.
Err...okay, maybe not.
But still!
David Hamilton, ever obsessed with that brief phase in which children turn into women, that short-lived moment of unawareness of their own beauty, peaked in the 70's. Those were the days of Studio 54, Emmanuelle and (Dutch blockbuster) Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight), which matched his photography perfectly.
And all he seemingly needed was natural light and a dab of petroleum jelly on his lens to capture that soft-focused effect in his sepia-tinted work: photographs of barefoot beauties in flowery fields, with slender bodies and budding breasts poking through their white cotton lace summer dresses.
They made him world-famous, his books sold hundred thousands of copies. Back then, posters of his girls in their large cotton panties, sharing a canopied bed to take a nap, decorated the rooms of not only teen boys, but families too. For a long time, no one considered his soft-focus erotica indecent or seriously inappropriate.
But that would change.
In the early 80's, Hamilton's art got out of fashion and later, when the morality police started running rampant and that dreaded paedophilia-word entered the scene, his photography suddenly turned into something edgy and risque (forbidden even in some countries), and raised awkward - but perhaps necessary - questions as; are Hamilton's girls women or are they still children? Is it okay to publish Lolita-ish nudity? And even though we now consider and know that it's not quite so innocent to eroticise young girls, does that make Hamilton's art less beautiful?
Oh, to gain back a little of the seemingly simplicity of the 70's! If a dab of petroleum jelly would be all it took...
..to be able to run around in a poppy field, wearing giant cotton panties.
Err...okay, maybe not.
But still!
May 23, 2025
This early and amazing book of David Hamiltons’ truly does capture the mood, emotion, whimsy, surreal thoughts, (according to Grillets’ verse) in such a way that piques the thoughts of the viewer/reader not only through Hamiltons’ exquisite photographic genius but, by the all consuming desire to continue the young girls’ journey as she/they discover their place as a meaningful source of wonder. The rare opportunities for us to share in all the imagination brought on by the consistent theme by the protagonist (if you will) reveals what and how a young girl’s life is from a unique perspective that not many of (especially an adults) us could perceive. Such an existence than that of one, and most likely many other young female viewpoints unbeknownst to most of the average viewers/readers. If you have a chance of acquiring such a treasure of said unique and “daring”photographic endeavours, please do so. It is my hopes you’ll not regret it! Best, Michael…..
January 30, 2013
A charming book about the innocence of sensuality.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews