Carmel Magazine

T he comfy Carmel Valley house that Bob Stone has called home for 20 years is chock-a-block with mementos of his life's work. That in itself is not particularly unusual; many retirees surround themselves with the highlights of their careers. But Stone's is a tad unusual: his domicile is full of glamorous, exquisitely crafted photographs of the most beautiful women on Earth circa the 1970s and '80s. There's Iman, Angelica Huston, Cheryl Tiegs, Kim Basinger and Kelly Preston among many others, plus a plethora of gorgeous models and actresses not lucky enough to have attained house- hold-name status. That's because Bob Stone was a top-flight New York City fashion photographer whose work appeared in the most influential magazines of the times: Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Cosmopolitan, among others. Stone grew up in Burbank. After studying art—and a little photography—at UCLA, he decamped for New York City in 1966. "I almost immediately landed a position as photographer with a big ad agency," he recalls. "I did typical commercial work; product shots, executives shaking hands, etc." But the glam- orous world of fashion photography soon caught his interest. "I was inspired by the work of Richard Avedon and Irving Penn," he says, naming two of the most influential — and successful — fashion lensmen of the 1960s. "I knew there was something spe- cial going on here. Those guys were artists, and I realized that a commercial photographer can have a signature to his work." A friend introduced him to Alexander Liberman, the power- ful, impossible-to-get-an-appointment-with editorial director for Condé Nast Publications, publisher of Vogue. Liberman hired Stone to shoot a shoe layout. "Everything was going flawlessly," he recalls. "The light was great, it was a perfect day." Then a woman passed by with a dog, "who promptly walked up to sniff the model—I pushed the shutter release, convinced the shot was ruined." Liberman loved it however, and that "accident" cat- apulted him into the first-call lists of top magazine editors and advertising executives and art directors. "My career took off from that," Stone recalls. Stone's demeanor is affable, charming, engaged and — most notable — humble. He exudes nothing to indicate that he spent decades breathing the rarified air of the world of high fashion. But the finely composed works on his walls loudly shout that fact. And he's genuinely grateful for the opportunities he had: "You're lucky in life if you get to do what you want to do or what you love to do," he says. "I've gotten to do both." For more examples of Stone's work ' like' him on Facebook, or visit www.carmelfineartphotography.com. C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 143 143-147 Bob Stone_Feature 1/24/14 7:45 AM Page 2

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