George Hurrell – Defining Hollywood Glamour
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Photo Studio Set recreation, using George Hurrell’s original Camera
The glamour of the screen actors from the beginning of the cinema in Hollywood, will be remembered not only by their immense bodies of work, but the photographs of George Hurrell.
Shooting on an 8×10 view camera, he captured all of the romance of the time in shaped shadows enveloping the stars in the smooth, soft glow of beauty.
His background in painting served his lighting techniques as the chiaroscuro patterns permeated his work.
But it was his skill working with the celebrities who left their photographic fate in his hands and were never disappointed. The movie studios called on his talent for all of their top actors, and felt his work could change their career. And it did.
From Jean Harlow in 1932
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© George Hurrell
To Sherilynn Fenn in 1992
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© George Hurrell
[photopress:bookstyle.jpg,thumb,alignright]The Hurrell Style became synonymous with glamour, and lucky us, he published a book in 1976 called “50 Years Of Photographing Hollywood: The Hurrell Styleâ€. A couple of of the best things about this book were his tales of each shoot PLUS, he gave the lighting setup details for each one. Not diagrams,but descriptions. Find this one if you can. Worth the effort.
Quite honestly, you should check out all
[photopress:legends_of_light.jpg,full,alignright] “Legends Of Light – The Photography of George Hurrell”. Try to find this DVD if you can, so you can watch the master at work, and get a full blast of the man who Hollywood loved, needed, honored.
We gave one of these away last year and they have been very difficult to find again. As you watch him light his subjects, the insight into the way he relates to them, and directs them is pure gold.
He passed away before this video was made available, but being the consummate professional, he record the VO commentary while in the hospital during his last days.
Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the current living master of the celeb portrait, Annie Leibowitz. Her Vanity Fair portraits alone have set the new standard.
Later this week, the new Hollywood shooters, and a look at those who work the Red Carpet Events.
Over here, Brad!!
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Hi Damon,
Thanx for all the swell links, especially the \”You Suck at Photoshop\” entry. Very funny.
Bruce may have mentioned that I have beaucoup shots from Africa, just P and S numbers, but the ladies in my group want to see them. The problem is, I always make my files as large as possible, and so many of these sites reduce the file size considerably. Can you recommend a photo-sharing site that accepts and posts larger size photo files? I really don\’t feel like mailing out a half-dozen CDs.
Hope all is well with you there! Ciao, Joan
Thanks for the kind words.
Honestly, iWeb from iPhoto does a pretty good good and is very user friendly. I use it for speed and ease of interface.
hope that helps!
Nice post. What’s up with all the strange comments? lol
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