Ron Vogel

Camera

1931-10-07 · San Francisco, California, USA

Ron Vogel was a legendary photographer, perhaps best known for having photographed 10 Playboy Playmates in the years between 1958 and 1968. Ron and his wife, Audry Pomerantz were nudists, and Audry was one of his early models. Vogel learned photography in the Army’s Special Services and after his service, he began taking nude photographs for men's magazines, with Audry coordinating models and maintaining the library. Vogel was a regular contributor to early men's magazines such as Rouge, Adam, Modern Man, and of course Playboy when it came along. Later, he would provide work for other magazines including Caper, Sir!, Beau, Mayfair, Beaver, Escapade, Carnival, Club, Cavalcade, Fling, Gallery, High Society, Score, Hustler, Rogue, Scamp, Sir Knight, and others. Vogel's other contributions included photos for photography magazines, showcasing his artistic nudes, and he also did photography for record covers starting in the late 1950s. In the 60s and 70s, he dabbled in other commercial photography and advertising, and did occasional celebrity photo sessions. In the 1970s, he began being hired as the still photographer for porn films (photos for covers and promotional articles), and this led to him branching out into other areas - cinematography, set design, art design, lighting design, and more - even appearing in bit parts in front of the camera on occasion. His daughter Alexis Vogel joined him in the business as a makeup artist - a trade she'd learned in his photography studio - and provided hair and makeup for dozens of adult movies and photo sessions in the 1970s and 80s, transitioning to working on mainstream Hollywood projects in the 80s. Vogel retired from the adult movie business in 2003, and largely from photography by 2006. In the 2010s, Vogel had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, to which he succumbed sometime in 2019.