After working in the U.S. Army Signal Corp as Chief of Photo Division in Newport News, Virginia, the photographer of this iconic photo, Joe Shere, was sent to Hollywood by Hillman Publications as west coast manager and photojournalist when World War II ended. In Hollywood, he continued to photograph for many different publications, like Movieland, Pageant, and TV Magazine. He photographed many big names in Hollywood at the time such as Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Debbie Reynolds, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Sandra Dee, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Fisher, and many many more. Shere hadn’t had too much publicity from any photographs before the photograph of Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield was taken, but his work still mattered a lot, and showed great representation of the stars of the time. Photographing these celebrities gave some insight on how they really were. He often captured the beauty of the stars, as seen in the photograph he took of Marilyn Monroe in 1952. But, he also captured the reality, as seen in the photograph he took of Loren and Mansfield. Having these great representations of the Hollywood stars of the time made Shere’s work very significant to that time period. 

Photography, Monroe Gallery of. “Joe Shere: 1917 - 2008.” JOE SHERE: 1917 - 2008, 1 Jan. 1970, https://monroegallery.blogspot.com/2009/03/joe-shere-1917-2008.html.