Golden Era Photographers

[lyburnum]

I was interested to see whether any of you had some favourite golden era photographers? A few of mine are Madame Yevonde, Philippe Halsman, Horst, Irving Penn and Jacques-Henri Lartigue. And there's probably others I've forgotten!

 

[ShortClara]

Wow - fantastic photographs! I confess to being entirely ignorant about photographers, so this thread will be wonderful to watch!

Love the lady in the wine

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Dorothea Lang

[/IMG]
Her photo documentation of the dust bowl was phenomenal.

 

[BigLittleTim]

Vogue...

Oh my God!

I was scrolling down through your post, and had just gotten to the Horst image "The Corset", when Madonna's Vogue came on my random-shuffle iTunes!

That image was copied to a 't' in the video.

-BigLittleTim

 

[BigLittleTim]

Society Photographers

Aside from the famous photo journalists and fashion photographers, what about the society photographers, some well known, who captured our grandparents' images on important occasions?

Bacharach (sp?) was the great 'society photographer' for most of the Twentieth Century. I think they're now defunct, but I remember their studio on Boylston Street always had one of their famous society portraits on display. The day Jackie Kennedy died her wedding portrait was put up in their window. It was stunning to see the crowd in front of the window that day.

Somewhere in Auntie Mame (the book) she comments on the "standard Bacharach society portrait" of Victoria Upson, her nephew's fiancee:
"She IS pretty. Bit of a mean mouth, though."

On a side note:
WHY can't modern studio portraitists get the same effects that the old photographers did?
I have an old studio portrait of my infant mother, her father, HIS father, and HIS MOTHER! (My great grand-mother).
It's a BEAUTIFUL photo; well composed, well lit, and beautifully developed.
We decided to have my sister and her kids photographed with my mom and my grandfather, in the same poses. It was HORRIBLE! What was the secret, back in the day? Any classic photographers with studios in here, in the Boston area??

-BigLittleTim

 

[Magadag]

I like the photos of jewish-german YVA. She was living and working in Berlin in the 20s and 30s until the Nazis putted her in concentration camp and killed her in 1938. Here for example:

She loved to do photo assemblies and was making very good advertising photos. She also made photo stories. Very good work.

-Jörg

 

[CharlieH.]

Weegee!

 

[Novella]

The ones I can think of right now:

Jacques-Henri Lartigue
Weegee
Brassai
Henri Cartier Bresson

 

[lyburnum]

On a side note:
WHY can't modern studio portraitists get the same effects that the old photographers did?
I have an old studio portrait of my infant mother, her father, HIS father, and HIS MOTHER! (My great grand-mother).
It's a BEAUTIFUL photo; well composed, well lit, and beautifully developed.
We decided to have my sister and her kids photographed with my mom and my grandfather, in the same poses. It was HORRIBLE! What was the secret, back in the day? Any classic photographers with studios in here, in the Boston area??

-BigLittleTim

As a photographer I would say it's entirely possible to recreate the look of forties photography, but mostly there just isn't a desire for it anymore. On top of that, I think most modern studios over complicate things, plus the equipment they were using back then was very different to the sort used in studios now.

There are those dedicated to recreating that look though. I don't know about the Boston area but I know in London we have Gordon Ayres, we regularly appears at swing events to take photos. There are some of his photos on this site, as I can't seem to find a definite homepage for him

http://noiresque.com/sandrasite/gallery2.htm
http://www.cc41.net/thrilling-thirties.html

 

[Fletch]

Man Ray

John Gutmann

 

[Fletch]

As a photographer I would say it's entirely possible to recreate the look of forties photography, but mostly there just isn't a desire for it anymore. On top of that, I think most modern studios over complicate things, plus the equipment they were using back then was very different to the sort used in studios now.

IANA pro, but I do think that it's a case of the esthetic having turned over so completely that there is just no feeling for it any longer. It's like sound engineering, where a similar situation exists. The technology has become so much more advanced that doing things any other way is just wrong.

It might be because photography is no longer a young field. In any established craft, pros become pros by doing things professionally and not breaking the paradigms. Craft makes a way for art, true, but artists become artists by making brand new paradigms, not mastering old ones. So besides a few oddballs, who's left?

 

[_tone]

a great place for old photos online is www.shorpy.com.

 

[Jack Armstrong]

Although his work falls toward the end of the Golden Era, Peter Gowland did the finest glamour photography ever. For decades, Gowland was to glamour photography what Gil Elvgren is to painted pinups:

http://www.petergowland.com/glamour6.html

 

[Camille]

I adore Walker Evans. Especially his Subway Portraits. The torn movie poster is my all-time favourite, however.

And also Clarence Sinclair Bull's Garbo-pictures.

 

[Camille]

Speaking of vintage photographers: I have this picture that I have -no- idea who took.

Anybody here that have an idea, or that's seen it before?

 

[Jack Armstrong]

Speaking of vintage photographers: I have this picture that I have -no- idea who took.

[photo]

Anybody here that have an idea, or that's seen it before?

No. But it sure cries out for a caption, doesn't it?

 

[martinsantos]

Alfred Eisentaedt. Robert Capa. Cartier-Bresson. Weegee (Artur Felig)... The very best, to me.

 

[David Conwill]

a great place for old photos online is www.shorpy.com.

Indeed. The Jack Delano shot of the Super Chief fueling up at Albequerque is my computer wallpaper at the moment.

-Dave

 

[Miss Golightly]

Norman Parkinson
George Hoyningen-Huene

 

[Atomic Age]

George Hurrell

[/url] Jean Harlow - by George Hurrell 1933 - Dinner At Eight by baronessvonvintage, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url] Jane Russell - by George Hurrell 1943. by josephdavid08, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url] Jeanette MacDonald - by George Hurrell 1935 by Hollywood BLVD, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url] William Powell - by George Hurrell 1935 by megaeralorenz, on Flickr[/IMG]