This image has become one of my favorites for a very different reason, not because it represents my style at its purest, but because it holds such a specific story from 1970s America.

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The poster on the wall features Fanne Fox, the burlesque dancer who became a national sensation after the Wilbur Mills scandal in Washington, DC, and suddenly went from tabloid headlines to a Playboy assignment. Playboy asked me to photograph her, which was ironic, because it was far from the more sensual, fine art direction I was developing in my own work. It leaned much more into the exaggerated look of the period.

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What makes it meaningful to me now is exactly that contrast. It reflects a time when I was navigating commercial assignments, editorial opportunities, and my own deeper commitment to photographing the female form in a more personal and enduring way. Playboy later even had me photograph her daughter for another issue. At the time, I was careful about separating those worlds, sometimes even using the pseudonym Rupert Danes so the lines wouldn’t blur with the more serious body of work I was building.