I learned with huge sadness that Chiara Samugheo (Paparella in real life) passed away two days ago at 87 (but some say at 97.. her true date of birth remains a mystery).
Chiara was the first (and probably the only) professional female photographer of Italian nationality to gain worldwide fame.
Between the late 50s and the early 80s, she portrayed an impressive number of actresses, from the divas of the period (Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Monica Vitti, Sylva Koscina, just to name a few) to lesser known (but nonetheless attractive) ones.
Chiara loved to portray those gorgeous women outdoors: most of the times she asked them to pose barefooted, and they gladly accepted!
Together with the great Angelo Frontoni, Chiara Samugheo has had a great influence on my photographic style.
I will hugely miss Chiara: she was a talented, free-spirited, brave woman, always out of the pack and ahead of her times.
Farewell, Chiara.. and thank you so much for all the beauty, charme, elegance and sex-appeal that you brought to us with your fantastic photos.

P.S. For those among you that wish to discover the photographic art of this outstanding photographer (she took over 165,000 pictures in her career!), at this link you can enjoy and download dozens of her portraits.. with plenty of barefoot divas, actresses and starlets!
https://www.fondazione3m.it/page_collezione...IARA%20SAMUGHEO

Beautiful photos Feetosopher, very artistic. A great loss.

I am not an expert at all, but, yes... her influence in your artistic style can be noticed.

Thanks for sharing, now she rests in peace.

Thank you very much for informing us about Ms Samugheo's death, and for sharing the link to that site with us, Feetosopher. I am no expert too, but I clearly see the influence that you are talking about. I really like the style of the period, and there were so many beautiful actresses at the time. May she rest in peace now.

@DG2001, @barefootfootseeker: you are welcome.
If you ever happen to visit Parma (Italy), you should definitely spend some hours at the local Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione (CSAC),
an archive managed by Parma University. CSAC hosts a collection of nearly all the 165,000 pictures that Chiara Samugheo shot over her career,
plus countless collections about other great photographers.
https://www.csacparma.it/en/

Thank you for letting us know. A loss. But her art will remain.

thank you very much for sharing, her name doesnt sound familiar to me, but i have browsed through some galleries and her pictures definitely looks familiar, i also can see her influence in your style, as you describe by yourself

rest in peace, dear Mrs. Samugheo

I've never heard of her, either, but RIP Chiara. Thanks a lot for the info and the link, her photos are really great Always nice to see beautiful oldschool models/actresses and if they are barefoot even better.

-Hal-

@gb62da, @shifter, @Hal: thank you for your comments, gentlemen.