So, are you ready for a new challenge?
April Milani and Catherine Pace are happy to announce that we have chosen Philippe Halsman as our artist.
Philippe Halsman had many styles. For this contest we would like you to focus on his Jumpology and Portraiture (jumpology not a must :o) Make it your own. Study his work and see what emotion it sparks up in you. This should be a fun contest and we are hugely looking forward to seeing your entries.
*** Contest will run for 10 days April 4 - April 14
Tag your photos: ac-halsman
reply@aprilmilani
reply@gozoinklings
Please let us know if we have forgotten to tell you anything else you need to know :o) And remember to HAVE FUN
April has put together the following info and links for you:
Philippe Halsman was a Latvian-born American portrait photographer. He was born into a Jewish family Morduchu: father (Max) Halsmanu, dentist, and mother Grintuch, directress of the gymnasium in Riga. He studied electrical engineering in Dresden.
Halsman went from Austria to France, where he began working with fashion magazines such as Vogue and soon became known as one of the best photographers in France, famous for his sharp and precise crop frame, reflecting the deviation from the old ways and soft focus look. When France was attacked, Halsman fled to Marseille and then successfully obtained an American visa, thanks to the support of a family friend, Albert Einstein (who was the subject of his famous portrait in 1947).
Halsman's first big success was when Elizabeth Arden used his photo model Constance Ford and the American flag in their campaign for a lipstick called "Victory Red". A year later, in 1942 he began working with Life magazine, photographing the latest hat styles. One of these hats, worn by Lilly Dach, became the first of many photographs by Halsman to grace the cover of Life.
The freezing of motion has a long and fascinating history in photography, whether of sports, fashion or war. But rarely has stop-action been used in the unlikely, whimsical and often mischievous ways that Philippe Halsman employed it.
Halsman, born 100 years ago last May, in Latvia, arrived in the United States via Paris in 1940; he became one of America's premier portraitists in a time when magazines were as important as movies among visual media.
Halsman's pictures of politicians, celebrities, scientists and other luminaries appeared on the cover of Life magazine a record 101 times, and he made hundreds of other covers and photo essays for such magazines as Look, Paris Match and Stern. Because of his vision and vigor, our collective visual memory includes iconic images of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Oppenheimer, Winston Churchill and other newsmakers of the 20th century.
And because of Halsman’s sense of play, we have the jump pictures—portraits of the well known, well launched.
This odd idiom was born in 1952, Halsman said, after an arduous session photographing the Ford automobile family to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. As he relaxed with a drink offered by Mrs. Edsel Ford, the photographer was shocked to hear himself asking one of the grandest of Grosse Pointe's grande dames if she would jump for his camera. "With my high heels?" she asked. But she gave it a try, unshod—after which her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Ford II, wanted to jump too.
For the next six years, Halsman ended his portrait sessions by asking sitters to jump. It is a tribute to his powers of persuasion that Richard Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Judge Learned Hand (in his mid-80s at the time) and other figures not known for spontaneity could be talked into rising to the challenge of...well, rising to the challenge. He called the resulting pictures his hobby, and in Philippe Halsman's Jump Book, a collection published in 1959, he claimed in the mock-academic text that they were studies in "jumpology".
Portraiture is one of the greatest challenges in photography, because the human face is elusive and often mask-like, with practiced expressions for the standard range of emotions. Some photographers accept these preset expressions—think of annual-report portraits of corporate officers—and others try to eliminate expression altogether, to get a picture as neutral as a wanted poster. Halsman was determined to show his sitters with their masks off but their true selves in place.
I am getting such a great education here at 365. Another artist I've never heard of and am now in love with his work. Wonderful choice April and Catherine.
@aprilmilani hello - everyone has replied here and seem to like the choice - i have also mentioned the challenge to my followers and so perhaps you can do the same (if you haven't already) when you upload your next photo. I am just going to put a photo myself to test that the tag works (not great quality but is a jump!) Very tired today! have been going for long walks with my student and the sun is hot - i live in malta so now is 6.15pm :o)
@gozoinklings Thank you:) I couldn't decide if I liked it better in full color, full B&w or this. The family liked the splash of red so I went with this one. Fun challenge, He has so many fun pictures for inspiration!
@aprilmilani absolutely fantastic entries til now! ! My week ok thanks but now back at work is harder to keep up with all the comments here. Hope you all better now at home. Why can't you post that shot? It's gorgeous!
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