Sydney Townend Philippe Halsman To be named one of the top photographers of the 20th Century is a substantial credit on its own, but to do so with no formal training or background in the art is remarkable, yet accomplished by Philippe Halsman. It all started at the young age of fifteen, when Philippe would photograph friends and family with his father’s 9x12-cm view camera, developing the glass plate “miracles” in the family’s bathroom sink. Even in these early years, using rudimentary equipment, it was evident Halsman had a gift and would leave a definitive mark on the photographic industry. With his ability to capture the true spirit of the subject and his advanced technical abilities, his career was destined to be nothing short of successful (B. Johnson 180). The technical approach of Halsman evolved from his …show more content…
desire to develop sharp and precise images, with dramatic highlights and shadows created by lighting. From the beginning of his career, Halsman could produce crisp, clean images, whereas his predecessors and peers took more of a soft-focus approach. To achieve the sharpness and maintain the details in his portraits, Halsman needed to work with large negatives, which was achievable with his 9x12-cm view camera. Conversely, with Halsman’s approach to capturing raw human emotion on his subjects faces, he needed a camera with a fast shutter speed. This would prove to be a stumbling block, as the 9x12-cm view camera was too slow and the other cameras on the market (Leica, Rolleiflex & Hasselblad) only offered small negatives (Warren 660-1). Halsman tackled this problem by designing his own 9 x 12cm twin-lens reflex camera, and having it built by a cabinet maker. The cabinet maker’s grandfather was Alphonse Giroux, who coincidently built the first camera for Louis Daguerre (Chronology). Ten years after the build of his self-designed camera, Halsman collaborated with the Fairchild Corporation who designed and built the refined TLR 4x5-inch Fairchild-Halsman camera (Warren 660-1). Halsman fancied himself as a self-designated obstetrician of photography, and even gave a lecture titled “Obstetrics of Photographic Ideas” to aid photographers who were “pregnant” with an idea, yet unable to “deliver” a creative product (Halsman 9). Within the lecture, Halsman shared a compilation of six fundamental rules for a photographer to review and evaluate a problem and, in turn, come to a logical solution (Halsman 16). The rules are as follows: direct approach, unusual technique, added unusual feature, the missing feature, compounded features and the literal or ideographic method. Rule number one, the rule of the direct approach, means to keep it simple and straightforward. Often, photographers attempt an indirect or obscure approach to shooting a picture, leading to misinterpreted translations of the photograph. By utilizing direct approach, Halsman believes that one would be able to produce a photograph that is both powerful and dynamic (Halsman 19). Unusual technique, rule number two, is applied when a subject could be deemed as uninteresting or bland. Halsman’s view is that as photographers, we cannot always change the subject, but we can control our photographic technique(s). There are multiple options for applying the rule of unusual technique and Halsman offered an extensive list of suggestions. Options available during the shooting process include changing backgrounds and foregrounds, utilizing various lenses and filters, moving the position of the camera to alter perspective or composition, or unique lighting, just to name a few. Contrary to other photographers of the time, Philippe claimed that even when a photograph is finished, the photographer can still create a dynamic layout with textures and taking advantage of another negative by printing one negative on top of another (Halsman 23-24). Possibly an extension, or spin off, of the rule of unusual technique, there is the rule of the added unusual feature, rule number three. To capture the attention of viewers, especially in commercial photography, Halsman insists that a photograph must contain an object or action that can captivate the audience once the technical possibilities have been exhausted. He maintained that neither the object, nor action needs to directly pertain to the subject matter or purpose of the photograph, but to achieve the primary goal of drawing the viewer in (Halsman 26-27). In direct contradiction to rule number three, rule number four is the rule of the missing feature. While a photographer can attract viewers by adding the usual feature(s), they also have the option to omit a feature that should be there. Depending on the feature that is missing, the effect on the photograph can be disturbing or create an air of mystery and intrigue. This rule is demonstrated well in two of Halsman’s photographs. One is a picture of Winston Churchill turned around, raising the question as to what he is thinking or doing. The second is a portrait of Dali with a head of hair and a mustache, but no face (Halsman 30-32). With the fifth rule, the rule of compounded features, Halsman suggests combining two or more ideas to create a strong image (Halsman 35). A photographer might have a strong idea, but may need further development to provide a truly unique or stellar photograph. For the sixth and final rule, we have the literal or ideographic method. It is entirely plausible that a photographer may find themselves in a position where they must convey an idea or a caption, for example a commercial advertisement. Halsman suggests that the photographer take the given idea or caption and translate it so that every word is represented literally as opposed to trying to create an image that leaves the viewer to guess or assume what the intended message is (Halsman 37). A photograph is comprised of many different elements, including lighting and composition. A portrait contains the same characteristics as a photograph, but Halsman believed that a portrait must capture the true essence of its subject, what is underneath the surface and far beyond the capabilities of the lens. Halsman was gifted in shooting portraiture and conveying a person’s true inner being through photography. Albert Einstein was both a close friend and a respected idol of Philippe Halsman. During one of Halsman’s visits with Einstein, he gathered the courage to bring along his floodlights as well as his own creation, the Halsman camera. Once the gentlemen finished their tea, Halsman set up his lights while Einstein sat down at the table working away at his mathematical and scientific research. Moments later, Einstein looked straight into Halsman’s camera and began speaking about his most famous formula, E=mc². Einstein’s formula has become the fundamental building block on which the government had created the atomic bomb, which was responsible for the deaths of many human beings. Einstein fell quiet and sadness filled his eyes and Halsman quickly released the shutter on the camera. When Halsman revealed the photograph to Margot, Einstein’s daughter, she was moved to tears and Einstein stated “I dislike every photograph taken of me. However, this one I dislike a little bit less (B. Johnson 180).” Nineteen years later, this iconic portrait would become a United States postage stamp and fifty-two years later, the cover of TIME magazine (Caridad). The technique Halsman employed with his photograph of Einstein, was essentially to sit back and observe the natural emotion as it surfaced, without prompting. With Marilyn Monroe, Halsman did the exact opposite. For what would become another iconic photograph, Halsman positioned Marilyn in the corner for a portrait, but changed his method to where both he and his assistants flirted incessantly with her. Through this flirting, they aimed to catch her off guard and capture a more natural side of Marilyn Monroe (Warren 661). “Jumpology,” is a methodology invented by Halsman himself and was a way for him to create portraits that were both authentic and spontaneous.
After his sessions for commissioned work were completed, he would ask if his subjects would be willing to participate in a personal project. Once they agreed, his request was simple - jump in the air. With minimal direction, aside from the request for them to jump, Halsman would capture each subject as they leapt into the air. One observation Halsman made was that each participant jumped differently, whether it be arm positions, leg positions, or facial expressions, the variations added to the complexity and diversity of each image (Terra 6). This project included many famous or celebrity subjects, including the Vice-President of the United States (Richard Nixon), Mike Wallace, Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe and myriad of other “jumpers.” Halsman felt that the subject switched their focus from posing for the portrait to the act of jumping, and with the action their “mask falls, so that the real person appears (Smith).” All the mid-air images were published in the “Philippe Halsman Jump Book” in
1959. In 1948, Philippe Halsman conducted a one-of-a-kind photographic experiment and published it in his book, “The Frenchman.” The title of the book comes from the actor, Fernandel, a French vaudeville movie star. Philippe Halsman asked if Fernandel would participate in an experiment where he could only respond with facial expressions to questions Halsman posed about American culture. Some examples of Fernandel’s expressions were perplexity, silliness, fear and a mischievious grin (Taschen). This experiment proved to confirm Halsman’s mission, that captions were not necessary to convey a story or an idea. Perhaps some of the most famous of Halman’s photographs come from his thirty-seven-year collaboration with renowned artist, Salvador Dali. Even before the far-fetched photographs, Dali and Halsman were firm friends and would spend Thanksgiving in New York together year after year. Halsman would create increasingly wild and original ideas for his photographs, and Dali would willingly volunteer to be his model. Halsman focuses most of the images around Dali’s moustache, allowing it to take center stage as it seemed that it took on a life of its own (Wallberg). The most famous of this collection of images, is titled “Dali Atomicus.” After nearly twenty-six attempts and two assistants standing in the wings tossing buckets of water and cats in the air, Halsman and Dali achieved photographic perfection (Wallberg). From his humble beginnings as a teenager developing his photographs in his family’s bathroom sink, to his work as one of the most highly publicized and lauded celebrity photographers, Halsman’s influence continues to leave an indelible mark throughout the industry, even after his passing in 1979. Philippe had a knack for human interactions and relationships and with those gifts, he could produce magnificent photographs that captured much more than a pretty face or a prize-winning smile. In 1972, seven years before his passing, Halsman summed up his nearly fifty-year career as a photographer, “Every face I see seems to hide – and sometimes fleetingly to reveal – the mystery of another human being. Capturing this revelation became the goal and passion of my life (Biography).”
Johnson, Brooks. Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers on their Art.” New York: Aperture Foundation Inc., 2004. Print.
David Belasco was born in San Fransisco, California, on July 25,1853. Hisparents had come to California from London in the gold rush. Belasco grew upin San Fransisco and Victoria, British Columbia. His early education in a RomanCatholic monastery influenced his simple mode of dress and helped earn him the nickname Bishop of Broadway. He had some experience as a child actor, and from 1873 to 1879 worked in a number of San Fransisco theaters as everything from call boy and script copier to actor, stage manager, and playwright. He paid further theatrical dues in the time he spent as a "theatrical vagabond" (Belasco's term), acting in small theatrical companies trouping through the mining camps and frontier settlements of the Pacific Slope. He recited poetry, sang, danced, painted and built scenery, and played everything from Hamlet to Fagin in Oliver Twist and Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin. In 1879, with James A. Herne, his first important collaborator, he wrote the popular melodrama Hearts of Oak.
The ideal historian is someone who wants to find the answer, but does not care what the answer is, curious but not committed. One might only look at the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg Address to see how even a valuable historical document contains what some might call bias. Bias, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as “an attitude that favors one way of feeling without considering other possibilities.” Subsequently, if Founding Fathers, and Abraham Lincoln wrote documents that fit the definition of being biased, what document is not. One such document, Memorable Decision of the High Court of Toulouse, is written impartially, and is styled with such particularity, that the reader is left wondering, what did
Born of Irish immigrants in 1823 in a little place called Warren County, New York; Mathew Brady is known as “The Father of Photojournalism.” While a student of Samuel Morse and a friend of Louis Daguerre (inventor of the “Daguerreotype,” a method of photography that the image is developed straight onto a metal coated surface), in which he had met while under the study of Morse, Brady took up his interest in photography in the year of 1839, while only seventeen years of age. Brady took what he had learned from these two talented and intellectual men to America where he furthered his interest in the then-growing art of photography.
Tolmachev, I. (2010, March 15). A history of Photography Part 1: The Beginning. Retrieved Febraury 2014, from tuts+ Photography: http://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/a-history-of-photography-part-1-the-beginning--photo-1908
Peanut butter and jelly, a common combination of two separate entities, most people have heard of this duo, many enjoy it, but only one manufacturer packaged them together in a handy snack. Much like the tasty treat that is Goobers is the tasty duo of Adam Fuss and Roland Barthes. Two separate men, Adam Fuss and Roland Barthes put together in one reading, complementing and accentuating each other. Fuss and Barthes, they share an interest in photography, they share an interest in the foundation and principles of photography, more over they share an interest in photography that is deeply personal. Fuss takes the camera out of photography. Barthes takes photography out of art. Both men want to get to the essence of what a photograph is, one by thinking and writing about it and one by doing it. In this paper I will show how Adam Fuss’ work matches up with and demonstrates the ideas of Barthes’ in Camera Lucida. I will look at one body of work at a time and show which parts of Barthes’ ideas are present in the work, in its creation and its theory. I will start with his first professional body of work, move through to his most recent work and then look back to some of his childhood pictures. Whether Barthes' ideas actually influenced Fuss’ work I am not sure of, I have not found any text or interview that leads me to believe that it is, however I would not be surprised if it has.
David Robinson is often regarded as one of the greatest centers to ever play the game of basketball. He was born on August 6, 1965 to Ambrose and Freda Robinson. As a student he excelled in all of his classes, and sports except basketball. By his senior year in high school he stood an incredible 6 feet, 7 inches tall, but had never played organized basketball. However, the basketball coach at his high school noticed Robinson and added him to the team without ever testing him. Robinson soon earned all-area and all-district honors, but not the attention of any college basketball coaches. But this did not matter to him, as basketball was not his first priority. Getting an education and becoming a student in the United States Naval Academy were his main concerns. After scoring a 1320 on the SAT, his goal of joining the Naval Academy was soon accomplished (Lewis, 16).
Atlantic journalist Nicholas Carr confesses that he feels something has been “tinkering with his brain.” The internet, he fears, may be messing with our minds. We have lost the ability to focus on a simple task, and memory retention is steadily declining. He is worried about the effect the internet has on the human brain, and where it may take us in the future. In response to this article, Jamais Cascio, also a journalist for the Atlantic, provides his stance on the issue. He argues that this different way of thinking is an adaptation derived from our environment. Ultimately, he thinks that this staccato way of thinking is simply a natural evolution, one that will help to advance the human race.
Walter Mosley was born in Los Angeles in 1952. He currently lives in New York City. He has been at various times in his life a potter, a computer programmer, a poet, and a short story writer; he studied writing in the graduate program of City College of
Since the end of the cold war, tensions between the United States and Russian have increased. Although no fighting had occurred between the two countries during the cold war, nuclear missile threats had caused a lot of fear to the citizens. As Boris Yeltsin came into power, tensions started to decrease because of his beliefs of democracy; but as Vladimir Putin came into power in 2000, tensions increased causing panic about another possible world war; most likely containing nuclear weapons.
David LaChapelle is an incredible, modern photographer. He combines celebrities with the bizarre. His photography is unique, charged with sexual imagery, and provides a unique view on people you see in the media, today.
Masters. With his small hand camera he unobtrusively photographed people’s lives around the world. He was solely responsible for bridging the gap between photojournalism and art. He has published more than a dozen books of his work. The greatest museums in the world have shown his work.
David Berkowitz was one of the most feared killers in New York City in the 1970's. His crimes caused the death of six people, and the injuries to seven others. His crimes became legendary because of the bizarre content in the letters that he wrote to the police and the media and his reasons for committing the attacks. David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, is a man with a troubled childhood and upbringing. From his many “Parental Figures” to believing that dogs were telling him to kill. During his reign of killing the police felt the pressure to catch David. "Operation Omega" was formed, which was comprised of over 200 detectives – all working on finding the Son of Sam before he killed again. He is currently serving a 365 year sentence at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York, and became eligible for parole in 2002.
As a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu focuses on the role of practice and embodiment in social dynamics of power relations in life, which opposes Western traditions. He conceptualizes the notions of habitus and field, which disclose the construction in human society, which, according to him, should not be understood as applying a set of rules. Echoing Michel Foucault and Michel de Certeau, Bourdieu intents to analyze the interrelationship between social structure and social practice. His arguments are around a reconciliation of both external power generated from social structure and internal power produced by subjective individuality.
“Dreams do come true with determination and faith.” This is the quote that best describe this movie. I admire the dedication and determination of the main character, Santiago Muñez. He worked hard to earn money, so he can pursue his dream to become a football player.