Born Helmut Neustaedter in Berlin October 31, 1920, he grew up in privileged circumstances in the home of his German-Jewish garment-factory owner father and an American mother. Newton attended the Heinrich-von-Treitschke-Realgymnasium and the American School in Berlin but he is not succeeding
in his school work, it seems that something is overshadowing his interest in class and his attention is focused to something else. He became a bad student and was expelled in school then he found his passion when his fascination with photography started, sparked by a camera bought when he was 12 years old. Engrossed in photography from a young age, he permanently left school in 1936. The young Helmut worked as an apprentice to top photographer Else Neulander Simon, a job he held until he was forced to flee after the start of Adolf Hitler's vicious pogroms against German Jews. As he tried to escape prosecution for being a Jew and flirted with death by consorting with Aryan girls, his parents managed to secure him passage on a ship to China, but he stopped in Singapore to briefly work as a photographer for the Straits Times for two weeks before settling in Melbourne, Australia.
Once he arrived in Australia he was first interned, before serving with the Australian Army during World War II. In 1948 Newton married photographer and actress June Browne. He set up a studio in Flinders Lane and worked primarily on fashion photography in the affluent post-war years. He and his wife lived quite a lavish lifestyle-staying in exquisite chateaus and hotels in some rather upscale cities of the world. He left Australia and settled in Paris in 1961 and began extensive work as a fashion photographer. Truly a voyeur, he peered through his telescope at the topless sunbathing women at his hotel's swimming pool to find perfect the models for his shots.His works appeared in magazines including French Vogue. He established a particular style marked by erotic, stylized scenes, often with sado-masochistic and fetishistic subtexts. A heart attack in 1970 slowed his output somewhat but he extended his work and his notoriety/fame greatly increased. Acclaimed photographer Helmut Newton was killed in a car crash Friday Jan. 23, 2004 in Hollywood, US. He was 83.