John Cowan’s adventurous and dynamic style and love of photographing beautiful women led him to a career as a highly demanded fashion photographer. His freelance work appeared in many publications including Elle, Queen and Vogue, as well as many daily newspapers. He found his ideal subject in the model Jill Kenington in 1962 and together they made fashion images that are fresh today. He also pioneered the exotic location shoot, ranging from the Arctic Circle to the Arabian deserts, but overall his images capture the youthful revolution in fashion of the early and mid ’60s.
   The third photographer in this trio is Ron Traeger, who was trained whilst serving in the US Navy. He benefited from the GI Bill which gave servicemen opportunities to study, and travelled widely within Europe from 1960 to 1962. Arriving in Paris, he was hired by Elle, soon after meeting with John Parsons, the Art Director at British Vogue. His work drew Parsons’ attention and Traeger soon had regular commissions from Vogue.
   Basing himself in London in 1964, he travelled to Paris regularly and produced many portraits of key media figures of the mid-’60s including Stanley Kubrick, Vladimir Nabokov and Mary Quant. His work brought him into contact with the most sought-after models of the peroid including Twiggy, Grace Coddington and Nicole de Lamage, and he worked extensively with Twiggy in the early stages of her career.
   These images include many classic shots, rarely seen before, which characterize one of the most fascinating eras of recent history.

Triple Exposure, at the Canon Photography Gallery at the V&A, September 16, 1999 to January 30, 2000.

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Left: John Cowan: Flying High, Jill Kennington, spring 1966.
Top: John Cowan: The Executive Girl, Jill Kennington, spring 1963.
Above: John Cowan: Jill Kennington in World's End Pub, Chelsea, spring 1963.