Customer Reviews

The Hurrell style: 50 Years of Photographing Hollywood

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Talk about timing. Moving to southern California in 1925, a young artist and photographer gradually worked his way into the graces of some society people and found himself doing portraits of Hollywood stars. His aesthetic -- distinct, romantic, idealized portraiture with a signature use of light and shadow -- was perfect for the burgeoning industry.

So he photgraphed everyone, literally everyone, from Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer to Keith Carradine and Donny and Marie.

This book (which he dedicated to "the beautiful people") combines the Hurrell photographs with memories recounted by Whitney Stine in a series of interviews.

218 pp with 133 b&w photographs, index, appendix containing technical data on each shot.

I orginally bought this book to study the lighting set-ups Hurrell used in his photographs. The book is filled with beautiful images. If you like glamour photos, old Hollywood stars, and black and white images, check out this book! I love Hurrell's work!

I got this book looking for insight into glamour portraits, and there really isn't much here.

I shouldn't be surprised, I guess. There are some nice sample images, along with more biographical information than I cared to read. I'm not sure who the audience is for this book, maybe fans of the man himself, maybe art or design students looking for some historical information?

Nice photos, not much info on how to achieve the same in your own work.