B (142)

Stanley Kubrick

would often switch

between staged and

real moments in his

photoseries, choosing to

focus primarily on the

overall narrative.

107

“I don’t like

doing interviews.

There is always

the problem of

being misquoted

or, what’s even

worse, of being

quoted exactly.”

–Stanley Kubrick

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great masters

popular President after Abraham Lincoln

and George Washington. The Second World

War was still not over. At that time, Kubrick’s

image of a newspaper vendor looking

morose whilst surrounded by papers

announcing FDR’s death, quietly captured

the mood of the country.

All of sixteen, Kubrick sold the image

to Look for a sum that would be roughly

equivalent to USD 330 (approx. Rs. 20,000)

and thus, kickstarted his career at the

magazine. He went on to shoot over 27,000

images and 300 photostories for them.

His magazine of choice is also quite

telling. Look was often seen as the antithesis

of Life magazine. The choice of stories in

Look were often darker and explored themes

like delinquency, alcoholism and divorce.

The Making of a Storyteller

Stanley Kubrick’s obsession with perfection

is renowned, much to the anguish of

those working with him on his films.

What amused me quite a bit was to learn that

the image of the newspaper vendor was, in

fact, rehearsed to get the look of despair. At a

time, when photojournalism was considered

to be absolutely true, here was a kid more

interested in conveying the essence of

truth rather than a literal interpretation of

the word. In his own words, “Real is good,

interesting is better.”

Stanley Kubrick:

Drama & Shadows

This is the first book

to document the

early photographs of

the director Stanley

Kubrick. It explores

how one of the most

influential directors

of our time used

photography as a

means to master visual

storytelling techniques

and cultivate his

signature style.

Images Courtesy: Stanley Kubrick: Shadows and Drama by Rainer Crone, Phaidon Press Reproduced by permission of Museum of the City of New York

Kubrick juxtaposed

the circus president,

John Ringling North,

yelling out orders while

aerialists practised

cycling on a tightrope in

the background. It was

a way of showing the

duality of order and

chaos at the circus.