Category Archives: Photographers

Hollywood in Kodachrome

January 18, 2015Book reviewsThomas Pindelski

Superb.

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An outstanding book with some 300 gorgeously reproduced images of the stars of the golden age of Hollywood. The care and attention to detail evident in the making of these images are really special.

Personal favorites? Why Lauren Bacall of course (on the cover, aged just 21) and Loretta Young, two of the most sohisticated beauties of the era. Today only one actress remotely has comparable presence – Angelina Jolie. Be sure to catch her in Maleficent, a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty tale by none other than Disney, of all studios. She deserves to be in this splendid book.

Kodachrome of the time came in roll and sheet film, the latter as large as 11″ x 14″ and in ISO speeds of just 8 (daylight) and 10 (tungsten), meaning lots of very bright and very hot lights to make the stars look just so. We have it easier today, but with fewer truly glamorous stars.

Robert Capa: The Paris Years 1933-54

January 2, 2015Book reviews, PhotographersThomas Pindelski

Fine photojournalism.

When the effects of America’s Great Depression swept across Europe, the revolutionary fervor of the French manifested itself in strongly held opinions. As the author of this book, Robert Lebrun, puts it “You were either ‘for’ or ‘against’. There was no ‘neutral’ “. Many of the street demonstrations of the time were captured by three of the greatest photojournalists the world has seen – David Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa. You could not hope for better documentarians and this tome includes many of Capa’s images which ran in the vibrant French press of the time. Later sections deal with the far better known images from the Spanish Civil War, WWII and Viet Nam, but it’s these early Parisian images which really resonate.

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If you love great photojournalism – for goodness knows it no longer exists – this book is for you.

6:30 am

December 11, 2014Book reviews, PhotographersThomas Pindelski

53 images.

In 2003 Malibu photographer Robert Weingarten took a picture daily from his oceanside home toward Santa Monica Bay using a long lens and the same composition. The result is magical and if you thought Rothko could paint this is far better. Available very inexpensively – click the image – and exquisitely printed. 53 of his images are reproduced and you will not believe the variety.

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Arthur Rothstein

December 2, 2014PhotographersThomas Pindelski

Depression era photographer.

Though Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans may be better known, Arnold Rothstein’s Depression era photography for the FSA is striking for its composition and compassion, never better illustrated than in the image below.