In the 40´s and 50´s the American soldiers started to hang pictures of pretty girls on the wall. It was one of the ways to encourage themselves during the heavy period of being in a troop. And so, the pin-ups were born, and a standard of beauty with them: sexy, sensual, feminine, but naïve.
So many years later, even with the big changes in our culture, we are still able to find these characteristics in contemporary photographs out there. Almost nothing as provoking as in Jonathan Leder´s work though. Planning it or not he generated his own idea of a modern pin-up.
Taken only with film cameras, his pictures look simple in a first approach. But they are not. This New Yorker photographer is able to penetrate in the model´s intimacy, showing or creating a strong atmosphere and personality. The images are cinematic, they tell a story, they invite us to participate.
Nostalgic, imperfect, but beautiful and consistent: that´s his portfolio. Completely worth checking it out.