Sir Cecil Beaton was born on January 14, 1904, in London, England. He was given his first camera at age 11 by his nanny, who taught him the basics of the Kodak 3A and how to develop the film.
In the 1920s, he was hired as a staff photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue, where he developed a unique style of posing sitters with unusual backgrounds, such as aluminum foil or plastic. In 1931, while Beaton was working fo British Vogue, he partnered with French Vogue's photographer, George Hoyningen-Huene, to create the popular aesthetic of 1930s' glamour. Beaton later became an award-winning costume designer for the stage and silver screen.
Beaton returned to England to work for the Ministry of Information where his war photography took a more serious tone. During the second World War he captured Winston Churchill as well as characters like Eileen Dunne, a young German Blitz victim with her teddy bear in the hospital.
Sometime later, Beaton suffered from a stroke and had to adapt to drawing, writing and holding a camera with his left hand. He died on January 18th, 1980, four days after his 76th birthday.