How do you turn Vivid Girls into Vargas Girls? Easy – get three of them (Tera Patrick, Savanna Samson, and Mercedez) in front of some of the top fashion photographers for the Vivid Gallery Collection, as photographers Richard Dean and Len Prince did.
"The pictures are Hollywood pinups meet modern Vargas/Elvgren," said Vivid vice president for licensing David Schlesinger, announcing the gallery, and referring to the classic pinup portraits by Alberto Vargas and Gil Elvgren.
"The images are romantic and sensual and are targeted to mainstream audiences and art collectors," Schlesinger continued. "They are not X-rated in any way.”
Patrick, Samson, and Mercedez posed with Dean and Prince in Manhattan December 6, the first of a planned series of such sessions with the Vivid Girls, with prints from that first shoot available beginning January 6.
The prices will vary, beginning under $100 for framed 8x10 prints and continuing up to large-size gallery prints selling for up to $10,000 at exclusive showings. They'll be available, Vivid said, through Vivid.com and the Vivid Gallery Collection initially and through the Vivid Girls' individual Websites later on. The future plan for the images also include a series of film noir images to be released later this year.
Dean and Prince both live in New York City, with Dean's repertoire including celebrity photography from Nicolas Cage and Martin Scorcese through U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, as well as advertising campaign work for Reebok, Nike, VH1, Fuji Film, and Phat Farm, to say nothing of covers for TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, FHM, and the legendary Sport.
Prince's repertoire has included celebrity portraits, fashion images, nudes, stills, and cityscapes, with work appearing in Interview, Vanity Fair, and InStyle and for advertising by Estee Lauder and Cartier.
