Olivia Newton-John, the Australian singer and actress best known for her role in the feature film Grease, "was an excellent photographer," her daughter has revealed in the wake of the star's passing.
While most famous for the 1978 Hollywood adaptation of Grease, whose soundtrack is one of the best-selling albums of all time, Newton-John was a highly successful musician, with hits including the Grammy-winning I Honestly Love You and the platinum-certified Physical. Latterly, she also made a cameo in the fifth installment of the cult favorite Sharknado series, Global Swarming.
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Following her passing in August at the age of 73, following a 30-year battle with cancer, her daughter Chloe Lattanzi shared that her mother held a little known passion for photography.
"Through mama’s lens," the musician wrote as the caption to a series of images taken by her mother, shared on Instagram.
"She always got the best and realest out of me. Helped me with my shyness. Like my grandmother, my mama was an excellent photographer! Don’t know if you knew that about her. One of her many talents. Thank you for these mama."
While these specific images may not be exhibition caliber, they certainly speak to Newton-John's ability to capture the authenticity of her subject – something that, for all the technique in the world, most photographers simply don't possess.
What's special about these images are that they are of Lattanzi herself, as the star captured her daughter in the dance studio, in a surprisingly evocative portrait, and in a candid moment – one where she bears a striking resemblance to her mother.
Lattanzi, with her polished social media presence, often struggles to let her guard down in photographs. As she said in her reply to one of her followers, on when discussing subjects often looking awkward, "maybe the subject is insecure shy they don’t know how to be comfortable in themselves. I relate".
That Olivia Newton-John was able to bring a subject's personality out in her images speaks to one of the truest skills in photography. Perhaps, one day, we will see a gallery of her work.
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