June Newton started working in 1970 as a professional photographer under the name Alice Springs. When Helmut Newton fell ill with the flu in 1970, his wife June came to the rescue. He explained to her how to use his camera and light meter, and she took his place in shooting the advertising image for the French cigarette brand Gitanes in Paris. This portrait of a model smoking launched a new career for the former Australian stage actor, who had little chance of acting in France due to the language barrier.

Springs' unimposing technique produced portraits which are at the same time poised and innocent. This collection is comprised of portraits of famous personalities: some alone–captured in the threshold between the private and the public, some in serial shots–taken at intervals of years or seconds, and some together with their children. All are recognizable as themselves while still revealing, however grudgingly or unconsciously, an aspect of their personality which cannot be easily discerned within their public persona.