Baron Adolph De Meyer

Baron Adolf de Meyer (also known as The Baron, Adolf Gayne de Meyer and Demeyer Watson) was a French born photographer who is known for being the first full-time photographer employed by Conde Nast and their lead photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines.

He seems to have been quite a character with famous friends in the 1890s and early 1900s including the Prince of Wales and many Broadway stars.

He is particularly noted for his fashion and interiors photographs but he also took still life images too.

By Baron Adolf De Meyer (American, born France, 1868 – 1946) (1868 – 1946) (American) (photographer, Details of artist on Google Art Project) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

De Meyer used a special hand ground lens to photograph some of his images to soften the shadow areas and hard edges.

Water Lillies, Baron Adolph de Meyer c1906

By Adolf de Meyer [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

His images are soft and glamorous and have a look of early Hollywood about them. The lighting is very gentle and the subject matter is arranged naturally.

They are simple photographs and perhaps could be described as truth by some because they closely resemble the items that they represent but even these images have been affected by De Meyer’s point of view, his choice of which bits of the subject is included in the image and what camera settings he has used.