82 6 July 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
Legends
of photography
I
f you’re a portrait
photographer, you will
have one key concern
on any shoot: how can
you best facilitate a working
environment where the subject
reveals themselves to the
camera. Every photographerPhilippe
Halsman
is looking for that one frame
where the sitter shows a side
of themselves that ordinarily
remains hidden. The majority
of us prefer to remain invisible,
closed off to prying eyes,
particularly when the gaze is
coming from the cold, hardportraiture. His career took off
in Paris in the 1930s, where he
photographed some of the era’s
best-known artists and writers,
including design polymath Le
Corbusier and author André
Gide, all of which he shot with
a self-designed twin-lens reflex
camera. Some years later,
Halsman was swept up in the
mass diaspora of artists and
intellectuals who fled the Nazis
and landed in the United
States in the 1940s. In fact, it
was through the help of Albert
Einstein that Halsman and his
family were able to secure a
visa. Over the next three
decades, Halsman was able to
secure his place as a sought-
after photographer who
worked with a variety of major
publications and had his
images featured on a whopping
101 covers of LIFE magazine.The art of the jump
In the 1950s, Halsman hit
upon a novel idea, one that he
framed in a kind of theoretical
philosophy: he began asking
his subjects to jump. On the
surface, this seems like a
whimsical idea, but when you
see the images you begin to
understand Halsman’s
thinking. In each of the
portraits, we see the
subjects revealed. There’s a
vulnerability on display. Their
body and mind are completely
concerned with the physical act
of the jump. It leaves no room
to concern themselves with
remaining guarded. In each of
the shots, we see the absolute
joy on display.
Halsman’s legacy isn’t just that
he found a unique and playful
way to shoot. It’s that he
succeeded in finding a way to
truly reveal the subject. ‘Every
face I see seems to hide – and
sometimes fleetingly to reveal- the mystery of another human
being,’ Halsman once said.
‘Capturing this revelation became
the goal and passion of my life.’
By asking his subjects to fling
themselves into the air, he found
it. It was so simple, yet in
many ways, so profound.
Philippe Halsman had a unique way of
making his subjects reveal themselves,
as Oliver Atwell discovers
stare of a camera lens. Some
photographers simply talk to
their subjects and wait for the
reveal of a reaction. Legend
has it that while photographing
the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor, Richard Avedon told
them a fabricated tale of a
dog being run over by his taxi.
The heartbroken look of the
pair became the key frame.
Thankfully, Philippe Halsman’s
technique, illustrated here, was
a little less callous.
Unless you’re familiar with
Halsman’s work, it’s unlikely
you’ve heard the term
‘jumpology’ before, but this
image of the actor Ray Bolger
should give you a fairly solid
idea. Latvian-born Halsman
was a photographer who
was known for his vibrant
and kinetic approach to© CBS PHOTO ARCHIVE
Actor Ray Bolger, who
played the scarecrow in
The Wizard of Oz, jumps
for Halsman’s camera© PHILIPPE HALSMAN/MAGNUM PHOTOS