Polaroids, a new book by photographer Carinthia West, features unseen photographs of stars including David Bowie & The Rolling Stones

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A new book, by photographer Carinthia West, features unseen photographs of stars including David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, and Neil Young.

Polaroids, published by Ancient Magic, is a collection of 89 polaroid photographs which present a unique insight into the social lives of the decade’s biggest icons.

Shot throughout the 1970’s, the photographs in Polaroids were taken at various locations between Malibu, New York, and London.

Carinthia West, a model, actress, photographer, writer, and muse, was in the midst of the celebrity scene of the 1970’s and 1980’s, and is able to capture usually guarded and invulnerable figures, such as Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Helen Mirren, Robin Williams, Keith Moon, and David Bowie, in candid social situations and environments.

Many of the photographs included in Polaroids have never been exhibited or seen before.

Above, ‘Jane Bonham-Carter and David Bowie’. 

Carinthia’s fly-on-the-wall photographs are captioned with anecdotes, which explain the story behind the images, and offer an insight into her jet-setting life during the period.

These stories range from riding Neil Young’s horses at his San Francisco ranch, to celebrating Eric Idle’s wedding with Robin Williams at Paul Simon’s New York apartment.

Above, ‘I took this Polaroid of Jerry, Mick, Gilda Radnor, Jane Bonham-Carter and David Bowie at Tania and Eric Idle’s wedding in New York in 1981. Sometimes you get lucky.’

As Ronnie Wood summed up in 1976 …

“If you were at a party with a Polaroid camera you were probably the most popular person in the room.

“‘Look, Carinthia’s got her camera, she can take pictures while we’re getting on with life'”.

The book contains a foreword written by Carinthia and detailed captions of each polaroid are indexed at the back.

Polaroids by Carinthia West is out now and can be purchased here