Ever since photographer Danielle June picked up a camera in earnest four years ago, her rockabilly sensibilities have informed her subject matter and her approach.
Right off the bat she displayed a knack for composition, and quickly gained command of color, lighting and texture, as she trained her camera insistently upon hot rods, old motels and roadside signs, and the female face, hair and figure as they are illumined by burlesque and vintage pinup fashion.
“I’ve always been a bit of a glamour girl,” said June, who wears fluid, colorful tattoo sleeves on her fair skin, and has “Baby Girl” tattooed across her knuckles. “Rockabilly, cars and pinups – it all kind of goes together.”
June will show off her burlesque and pinup photography, in color and black and white, at the Mint Salon in Hermosa where she also cuts hair. A reception for the exhibit will also serve as the salon’s one-year birthday party, 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 4
June’s choice of a website name, madamepopmp.com, is easy to understand while gazing at her photo of model Amber Rockwell, wide-eyed and blossom-lipped, wearing a sexy, stripped-down version of an 18th century pannier hoop skirt.
“It’s very Marie Antoinette,” June said with a wide smile.
June’s heroine of sorts, Madame de Pompadour, born Jeanne-Antionette Poisson, was all woman even while transcending the gender roles of Louis XV’s France. When she was a girl, a fortune teller prophesied she would become mistress to the king. When she became just that, she parlayed the role into significant influence in matters of state.
She basked in the arts, and served as a patroness of Voltaire. She remained an influential confidante of Louis even after moving out of the mistress role. And style-wise, she rocked it.
We must assume that Madame Pompadour would approve of the big-and-blond elegance, the black-bangs-and-red-lipstick verve of June’s work. And she would certainly enjoy the Saturday party.
The Mint, a welcoming, hip-but-not-hipster hair salon a few doors from the ocean, will blow out its one-year candle with food from Sylvio’s Brazilian BBQ, refreshments from Watermans and lounge music on the box.
Owner Eli Shephard, a Hermosa native who grew up surfing the beach cities and attended Redondo Union High School, has girded the Mint with concrete floors, wood ceilings and a happy, unpretentious vibe. He selected his stylists – June, Trisha Wood and Renee Nolan – in part for their scissoring skills and in part because they bring the opposite of stuck up-ness to the business.
“I had worked with Danielle back when she had Ultra Lux [salon in Redondo], and I thought of her right away,” Shephard said.
A reception for photographer Danielle June, coupled with a one-year birthday party for the Mint Salon, 69 14th St., Hermosa, will be 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 4. Samples of June’s photography can be found on her “Madame Pompadour House of Design” page on Facebook.
