“What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.” – Lord Byron, English poet and satirist (1788-1824)
THE FAN AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER
(LA) When can I separate the fan from the photographer? I’ve started this blog actively 4 months ago a day after the legendary lensman Mr. Irving Penn died, his lost was my first blog entry. Ever since, interviewing photographers has given me a great pleasure and opportunity to discover things about myself and I can’t help but be starstrucked by these visionaries, for some people it sounds like a straight-up major ass-kissing articles, but only a true fan of portrait photography, like me, can understand the surreal feeling of this experience. Most of the photographers that I had featured and will be featured in Naiveboy.com are probably the busiest people you’ll ever meet in your life, they travel a lot, they work everyday, they’re the most in-demand people in the industry and you’ll rarely read them in blogs for an intensive interview like this, because in the photography world that I live in, they are the rock stars, they are the celebrities, they are the legends.
HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE
In the 2008 film How to Lose Friends & Alienate People starring Simon Pegg as Sidney Young, based on the memoir (with the same title) of British journalist Toby Young and the tale of his stint in New York as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. The movie version was neither sharp nor satirical, the film misses the point of the source material completely, but there are few parts in the film that made the movie worth watching for me, I remember the promising first 2 seconds, the first line was “When I was a kid I used to think there was a special place where all the movie stars lived, a kind of Shangri-La, if you can just get inside there, you’ll be happy, forever.” and the scene where Young have a moment with his philosopher/published author father in his dilapidated New York city apartment:
Father: I picked up your magazine at the airport, most enjoyable, I particularly like the young hollywood actress who said she would like to start a theatre career somewhere small like London or England (laughed)
Sidney Young: Why would you always do this?
Father: It’s just a little joke.
Sidney Young: It’s not a little joke, its just your way of saying that what I do is worthless.
Father: I don’t think it’s worthless, I just think you know in your heart that you could be doing more with your life.
Sidney Young: More? Sharp magazine (Vanity Fair magazine) is one of the most respected magazine’s in the world, there’s a million hacks that would kill to be where I am. You know who I hang out with just today? Orlando Bloom.
Father: (paused) I don’t know who that is?
Sidney Young: Ofcourse you don’t know who that is, you thought Brad Pitt was a cave in Yorkshire. Most people do know who that is. And most people wouldn’t think a journalist hanging out with celebrities like that was a disappointment.
ADORATION
I think those two scenes are hilarious but also true, it’s familiar for many of us, working in an industry of physical appearances you are surrounded by unreal people who worship celebrities like no one else does, and it’s their world and some of us just happen to work on it. For the rest of the world (like Young’s philosopher father) they don’t even exist. I just have this naive idea of a world, where a generation growing up adoring scientist, astronauts, artist, musicians, philosophers, doctors and NOT brain-dead pop stars, no-talent movie stars, politicians, and reality show stars that are being force-fed to us every single day of our lives.
MR. HENDRIX
Jimi Hendrix is considered by most of us, if not all of us, as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music, one of the most influential musicians in the human history. Can you imagine a kid growing up looking up to a Jimi Hendrix? You can’t deny that most musicians born during and after Hendrix have been a fan and has been starstrucked once in their lives by his genius, probably some of those adoring fan’s in the 60′s and the 70′s buying his concert tickets, following him in tours, collecting all his records, have all growned up and now leading the modern music industry, and for another 18-year-old boy born in Kansas City, Missouri, have photographed Mr. Hendrix and changed his life completely, the boy became an influential voice in the world of photography and his name is Greg Gorman. I think that’s how electricity is transfered from person to person, you start out as a fan of someone else’s work.
MR. DICAPRIO
I was in highschool the first time I got aware of Mr. Gorman’s work, it was the unforgettable images of the very talented young actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the beautiful faces of Maxwell Caulfield, Keanu Reeves, Jared Leto, Greg Knudson, Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Rodney Harvey that made me an instant fan. Greg Gorman’s works that have appeared in Esquire, GQ, Interview, Life, Vogue, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Time, and Vanity Fair magazines have always reminded me of my teen years and why I love the beautiful celebrities and what they represent to me as a photographer now, they are the muses.
This world-exclusive one-on-one interview with Mr. Gorman is a full circle for me, the 18-year-old boy who once collected the images of a Mr. DiCaprio is sitting for a Q&A with the 18-year-old boy who have once have photographed a Mr. Hendrix.
LIVE IN PARIS VOLUME 2
LOPE NAVO: Thank you for dropping by Naiveboy.com Greg, I’ve chatted with you for a while now and I’ve been itching to ask what is it like photographing a Jimi Hendrix?
GREG GORMAN: I really don’t remember! I was 18 years old and it was my first experience shooting. I was probably stoned and enjoying the concert. The following morning after seeing Jimi Hendrix , I processed the film in a friend’s dark room and when I saw the image coming up in the developer, I was hooked! I subsequently enrolled in a photojournalism class at the University of Kansas where I began my formal studies.
NAVO: What camera did you use?
GORMAN: A Honeywell Pentax 35mm camera with an 85mm lens.
NAVO: What’s your top 3 favorite albums/records of all time?
GORMAN: 1. Miles Davis “In a Silent Way”, 2. Chet Baker “Live in Paris Volume 2”, and John Coltrane “A Love Supreme”
THREE MOST BEAUTIFUL FACES
NAVO: You’ve basically photographed virtually all the most beautiful people in the world in my book, I remember very clearly from highschool about your sublime images of young Maxwell Caulfield, Keanu Reeves, Jared Leto, Greg Knudson, Heath Ledger, Rodney Harvey, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Who’s the 3 most beautiful faces you’ve photographed?
GORMAN: 1. Kim Basinger, 2. Sophia Loren, and 3. Alex Pettyfer.
HOW MUCH DID THEY PAY YOU SON?
NAVO: What do you think is the best part in being a photographer?
GORMAN: The best part about being a photographer above and beyond the energy rush of knowing when you are connecting photographically with the subject is the opportunity of getting the chance to meet and know the individuals in front of your lens that in most ordinary circumstances might never happen. I don’t even necessarily mean a celebrity per se but any individual you might fancy getting to know and the prospects of them being photographed can often lead to a friendship if the communication channels are open and flowing. Part of the entire process is about being part-time psychologist - to be able to come up or down to their level to put them at ease: make them feel comfortable and most of all confident, attractive and in touch with themselves.
NAVO: At what point did you know you want a career in photography?
GORMAN: That one on one communication that no other profession can provide like photography. My mother was always extremely supportive and encouraging. My father thought it was a waste of my time because he thought I would never make enough money! After photographing the five most powerful women in Hollywood (Barbra Streisand, Jessica Lange, Sally Field, Goldie Hawn, Jane Fonda) for the cover of Life Magazine, I told my father, thinking it would impress him, but his response to me was “how much did they pay you, son?”
NAVO: Speaking of Life Magazine, I’ve asked this question a couple of times to my recent interviews, there are 367 magazines closed in 2009 alone, what do you think about this?
GORMAN: I think in many ways the onset of digital as great as it is in many of the arenas of photography, has been detrimental in terms of the hard copy. Particularly in the world of journalism. I prefer to look at a magazine while holding it in my hands – not reading it online.
NAVO: Whats the last book you’ve read lately and what is it about?
GORMAN: The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace. It was basically about the sale of the world’s most expensive bottle of wine and the entire sham behind it.
NAVO: Who’s your favorite historical figure?
GORMAN: Mikhail Gorbachev for his contributions to Global Green and for being forefront in creating the awareness of our planet’s need to solve its environmental issues.
HOLLYWOOD ICONS
NAVO: If you’ll get a chance to photograph a dead icon, who will it be and why?
GORMAN: Strangely, I would have liked to photograph Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi. That stems from my childhood infatuation with horror films and monster movies.
NAVO: Speaking of Hollywood movies, Whats your top 3 favorite films and why?
GORMAN: 1. Ingmar Bergman‘s ’Skammen’/ ‘Shame‘ (1968), for it’s cinematography and content, 2. Federico Fellini‘s ‘8 & ½’ (1963), need I say more?, 3. Akira Kurosawa‘s ‘Dodesukaden‘ (1970) and ‘Dersu Uzala‘ (1975), beautifully realized fables.
NAVO: Those are some of the best film directors that ever lived, who’s your top 3 favorite Hollywood Icons then?
GORMAN: 1. Bette Davis, 2. Martin Scorcese, and 3. George Hurrell
NAVO: How about your top 3 favorite actors of all time?
GORMAN: 1. Leonardo DiCaprio, 2. John Hurt, and 3. Divine
NAVO: Top 3 favorite actress?
GORMAN: 1. Bridget Bardot, 2. Liv Ullman, and 3. Divine
ESCAPE THE HOLLYWOOD SYNDROME
NAVO: What is the top 5 favorite movie posters you’ve ever shot?
GORMAN: 1. Tootsie, 2. Pearl Harbor, 3. Man in Iron Mask, 4. King Arthur, and 5. Pirates of the Caribbean.
NAVO: One thing I always remember growing up looking at your work, besides your signature breathtaking bodyscapes are the landscapes and locations that you use in your backdrops. Whats your top 3 favorite locations that you’ve ever shot and why?
GORMAN: 1. The Sand Dunes at Ten Mile Beach near Mendocino for their continual change and mystery which present challenges each time I shoot there. 2. The Okavango Delta in Botswana for its enormous scope and spiritual presence. 3. Pierce Brosnan’s new beach house during construction! The house is filled with an incredible amount of natural light. The windows are covered with plastic, since they haven’t been installed yet, which gives the enormous space the feeling of one giant soft box of natural light. Quite extraordinary!
NAVO: What’s an ideal vacation getaway for a Greg Gorman?
GORMAN: An ideal vacation for me depends on my needs and they can vary greatly! Sometimes I just need total downtime to escape the Hollywood Syndrome and that usually means time alone with my dogs at my Mendocino retreat-hiking/fishing and biking. Other times at this stage of my life, I enjoy traveling to far away places I have yet to see and visit. This has been pretty high on my priority list. I have tried to incorporate teaching workshops in cities where I can spend more time enjoying the essence of the locales. I am teaching this spring for instance in Paris, Tel Aviv and on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Zingst. Last year I taught in San Miguel and in Budapest. It has been great because I have actually had enough time in each city to really get a feeling of day-to-day life there.
IN THEIR YOUTH
NAVO: Where were you born and where did you grew up?
GORMAN: I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in Mission Hills, Kansas. I moved to Los Angeles at age 20 in 1970 after attending the University of Kansas.
NAVO: I got the copy of your latest book Greg Gorman ‘In their Youth’ and I can’t deny the fact that I have a crush on the boy holding a huge Trout on the book jacket. What’s the story behind it?
GORMAN: Kind of a funny story! When I was putting the project together in the final stages, my very dear friend, Audrey Wells, a terrific screenwriter and director, who interviewed me for the forward felt that since so many of the images in the book were also taken when I was in my ‘youth’ that my portrait should reflect a similar time in my life. This image is so appropriate because it was taken by one of my best friends at the time, who coincidentally was the same person who loaned me his camera to photograph Jimi Hendrix and helped me process the film in his darkroom. His name is Marlin”Buzz” Gher and he is a dental surgeon living with his family near San Diego. We were on a rafting trip in Wyoming where I caught this German Brown Trout in the Green River in Pinedale, Wyoming. I love to fish so I felt this picture held many memories and couldn’t have been more fitting considering all the ties!
NAVO: Now its my time to fish, I consider you to be one of the most influential portrait photographer out there, your iconic b&w images and your unforgettable photo books have been one of my greatest inspirations growing up and loving photography, I would love to know what do you think of my work?
GORMAN: I felt your images not only grasped the subjects in a bold austere way but presented the subjects in a very good light! Something I can’t say about many of today’s photographers whose imagery is this strange non-flattering pseudo editorial style that in most cases I find rather appalling and terribly forgettable in terms of memorable images. That is one of the things that drew me to your work – your respect for your subjects.
NAVO: What can you advise the young men and women who wants to make a living photographing the most beautiful and interesting people in the world?
GORMAN: Good fucking luck! Follow your heart, start by photographing people you are very attracted to as this will most likely yield the best results to get you started, develop and showcase your own unique style to separate you from all those out there copying others. Be aware of all the editorial work being created so you can set a benchmark in achieving your success.
________________________
GREG GORMAN Books
• Greg Gorman – Volume I (1989)
• Greg Gorman – Volume II (1991)
• Greg Gorman Inside Life (1996) (foreword by John Waters) ISBN 978-0847819980
• Greg Gorman As I see It (2001) ISBN 978-1576870877
• Greg Gorman Perspectives (2002)
• Greg Gorman: Just Between Us (2003) ISBN 978-1892041807
• Journal of the 21st Century: Greg Gorman (2007)
• In Their Youth: Early Portraits (2009) ISBN 978-8862080972
http://www.amazon.com/Greg-Gorman-Their-Youth/dp/8862080972/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266439852&sr=8-1
________________________
________________________
http://www.gormanworkshops.com
http://www.gormanphotography.com
http://www.photopress-production.com
________________________
http://www.amazon.com/How-Lose-Friends-Alienate-People/dp/0306812274
________________________
Related Entry: http://naiveboy.com/2010/01/15/mert-alas-a-fashion-icon-interview-by-navo/
________________________
info@navostudios.com
©2009 Dangerously Naive
©2009 Naiveboy.com
One of the most grounded icons in the “fashion house” died at the aged of 92 yesterday in his Manhattan home. These words were written in his obituary: “Irving Penn, A courtly man whose gentle demeanor masked an intense perfectionism, Mr. Penn adopted the pose of a humble craftsman while helping to shape a field known for putting on airs. Although schooled …in painting and design, he chose to define himself as a photographer, scraping his early canvases of paint so that they might serve a more useful life as backdrops to his pictures.”
ich he graduated 1938. Penn’s drawings were published by Harper’s Bazaar and he also painted. As his career in photography blossomed, he became known for post World War II feminine chic and glamour photography. Clarity, composition, careful arrangement of objects or people, form, and the use of light characterize Penn’s work. Penn also photographs still life objects and found objects in unusual arrangements with great detail and clarity.
His still life compositions are skillfully arranged assemblages of food or objects; at once spare and highly organized, the objects are raised to a graphic perfection, articulating the abstract interplay of line and volume.
Mr. Penn
