Cecil Beaton Biography

Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton was an English photographer best known for his portraits of celebrities captured in avant-garde settings. A famous characteristic of his work was that he would go to any lengths to capture a particular look—subjects were made to lie down, climb trees, perch upon a ladder or simply wear a poker face in order for him to take innovative photographs. His fascination with photography began when he used to look at pictures of society women and celebrities in magazines as a young boy. He received his first camera when he was 11 and thus began his long term love affair with images and photography. His two younger sisters became his first models and they readily humored their brother by posing for him in imaginative costumes. He had no interest in academics and though he went to college for sometime he dropped out before graduation. He started working for the British edition of ‘Vogue’ where he became famous for his fashion photographs and society portraits. During the Second World War, he became the country’s leading war photographer and captured the horrors of the war in poignant details in his photographs. He also worked as a stage and costume designer for which he won an Academy Award.