Hamilton grew up in London. His schooling was interrupted by World War II. As an evacuee, he spent some time in the countryside of Dorset, which inspired his work until today. After the war, Hamilton returned to London and finished school before moving to France where he has lived ever since.
His artistic skills began to emerge during a job at an architect's office. At age 20, he went to Paris, where he worked as graphic designer for Peter Knapp of ELLE magazine. After becoming known and successful, he was hired away from ELLE by Queen magazine in London as art director. Hamilton soon realized his love for Paris, however, and after returning there became the art director of Printemps, the city's largest department store. Hamilton began photographing commercially while still employed, and the dreamy, grainy style of his images quickly brought him success.
His photographs were in demand by other magazines such as Realites, Twen and Photo. By the end of the 1960s, Hamilton's work had a recognizable style. His further success included many dozens of photographic books with combined sales well into the millions, five feature films, countless magazine publishings and scores of museum and gallery exhibitions. In December 1977, Images Gallery in New York City showed his photographs, at the same time that Bilitis was released. He also maintained an apartment in New York. His soft focus style also came back into fashion at Vogue, ELLE and other high-class fashion magazines from around 2003. Long ago, Hamilton lived with Mona Kristensen, who was a model in many of his early photobooks and made her screen debut in Bilitis. More recently, he was married to Gertrude but they have since divorced amicably and she lives in New York working as a painter. Hamilton divides his time between St Tropez and Paris. Since 2005 he has been enjoying a revival in popularity. In 2006 two new books were released: "David Hamilton", a collection of captioned photographs, and "Les contes érotiques" ("Erotic Tales"), which contains Hamilton's fictional short stories.
As much of Hamilton's work depicts early-teen girls, often nude, he has been the subject of some controversy and even child pornography allegations, mostly from North America and Britain, similar to that which the work of Sally Mann and Jock Sturges have attracted. In the late 1990s, some people protested bookstores that stocked Hamilton's photography books but their efforts came to nothing. Because of differing attitudes regarding age and nudity, Hamilton has not received this negative attention in his adopted home of France, nor in the rest of the world.
In 2005, a member of the Surrey Police in Britain "wrongly claimed" that possessing Hamilton books was now illegal in the UK. Surrey Police were later forced to make a formal apology for the incorrect and unsubstantiated allegations made by Detective constable Simon Ledger (see: British Journal of Photography, September 2005), and admitted that no legally binding decision had been made on the work of David Hamilton.
The Guardian (UK), June 23, 2005, wrote: Hamilton's photographs have long been at the forefront of the "is it art or pornography?" debate. Glenn Holland, spokesman for the 73-year-old photographer, who lives in St. Tropez, said: "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by this, as David is one of the most successful art photographers the world has ever known. His books have sold millions".
