My Latest New Favorite Book: Edith Head

I'm extremely excited to have finally gotten my hands on a copy of Edith Head: The Fifty Year Career of Hollywood's Greatest Costume Designer by Jay Jorgensen.

For those who are unfamiliar with the name, Edith Head was the costume designer for innumerable films from the nineteen-thirties through to the nineteen eighties.  She designed costumes for practically every major Hollywood star of the classic Hollywood era, including Barbara Stanwyck, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, and a host of others.  She was a favorite of Hitchcock who used her designs for the iconic costumes worn by Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954) and Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958)... and this is just me scratching at a VERY wide surface

So far, I've spent most of my time with the book ogling the various studio costume shots of the various actresses dressed in her frocks so I cannot vouch for the quality of the text.  I can say that with photos like this who needs text?

Happy New Year!

We're already a couple of days into 2011- where does the time go?  Now that the holidays are over and we're all back to real life again, our commitment to providing Edmonton with a fresh alternative to average, boring photography is stronger than ever.

Whether it's a gift for that special someone (Valentine's Day is a little more than a month away, ladies), a fun way to commemorate a special event, or just as a treat for oneself, Bombshell Photography Inc. is here to blow all expectations out of the water.  For more detailed information about our photography services please visit our main site at www.photobombshell.com.

To all those who follow the blog, we will continue to write about the various topics that fascinate and inspire us.

At any rate, 2011 looks to be another exciting year!

Old Hollywood Glamour Photography For the Layperson

Jean Harlow 

If you haven't noticed by now, I am passionate about classic Hollywood.  That passion spills over into photography.  Since I was young I have been fascinated by the photos taken of the stars of yesteryear... something about that potent mix of silver halide, period attire, and superstar charisma.  Of course, there is also the artful hand of the studio photographer pulling the strings.

Hollywood glamour photography is as old as Hollywood itself: a tool for studios to promote their galaxy of stars.  If a studio had a new talent that they wanted to promote to movie goers, studio heads would order several sessions with their hired photographers and distribute the results to various fan magazines.  When a film was in production, actors and actresses would be subjected to several wardrobe and hair tests, the results were documented by a studio photographer. And once stars had reached a certain level of fame, countless fan letters would come flowing in, and studio ordained head shots were the reward for a fan's devotion(this was elevated to another level once World War II broke out and studio pinup photos became the rage).  In all cases, it was necessary that the photography captured that illusion of otherworldly beauty and glamour that surrounded movie stars.  

Between 1910 and 1950, the art of Hollywood glamour photography evolved from flat, uninspired photos of silent film stars to gorgeous works of art truly immortalizing their subjects as the larger than life personalities that the studios wanted them to be.  This type of photography can be divided up into two different categories: gallery portraits (which were taken within a Hollywood studio's on site photography studio) and candid portraits (which were taken on location either outdoors or possibly in a star's own home).  Within both of these categories there were several sub-categories, including the standard head-shot, the duo (or couples) portrait, the costume portrait, and the pinup.  Some of the most celebrated studio photographers of the era include Clarence Sinclair Bull, George Hurrell, and Ernest A. Bachrach.  Unfortunately for these talented men, their names were never mentioned and their contributions to creating the illusion of otherworldly stars went largely unheralded.

Theda Bara, circa. 1916

Elizabeth Taylor, circa 1958

Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in a Duo Shot

Audrey Hepburn models Givenchy in a costume shot