The Images That Made Me

How much does imagery help shape the person we become? Which photographs are the ones we remember as changing us in some way––creatively, personally, professionally––or simply as marking the passage of time?

We ask industry leaders, artists and experts in visual culture to talk us through the five photographs that have brought them to where they are now. Think Desert Island Discs, but make it art

Anna White has over a decade of experience in the fashion and footwear industry. For the past four years, she has been leading On’s productions; from e-com to global campaigns and everything in-between.

Anna’s selection of imagery holds more than just aesthetic value to her – they are moments she vividly remembers, ones that shaped her career and fuelled her passion for photography and fashion.

Mirrors, Steve Hiett [1999]

I was lucky enough to work with the late Steve Hiett very early on in my career, and took my responsibilities of ensuring he always had his rider on set [tea + digestive biscuits!] very seriously! I rather naively assumed that all great photographers were as kind and calm as Steve – but I realise now he was one of a kind. His work definitely shaped my career, it took me to Miami and Hollywood beach for the first time, and I still always make sure there’s a kettle on set [but now it’s for my sake].

Gourock Lido, Martin Parr [2004]

I saw this photo in an exhibition at the Museum fur Gestaltung in Zurich in 2013 [little did I know back then I would move to Zurich for a job years later…]. It was a huge print, it took up almost an entire wall in the gallery, and I was mesmerised by the colours. The ominous sky and murky sea contrasted by the turquoise pool just did something to my brain

As someone who loves summer/hates everything else, I can’t say I find much beauty in a miserable grey sky – but this photograph challenges that. I have a print of it hanging on the wall of my flat in Zurich, sadly only a fraction of the size of the print I saw all those years ago…

A Dog Team Resting by an Iceberg, Herbert George Ponting [1912]

This is a photo taken by Ponting on Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910. I can’t imagine how otherworldly the Antarctic must have been to those early explorers. I try and wrap my head around how awe-inspiring these photographs would have been in 1910. We are so overwhelmed with content and our access to incredible images from around the world is effortless, and so I find images taken over 100 years ago in one of the most remote parts of the world absolutely fascinating.

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