 |
September 7, 2008 |
  |
Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
|
|
Articles |
 
|
This shot was taken while you were assigned to the Darby Rangers, the first Army Rangers. These were the toughest men in the army, trained in guerrilla warfare by British commandos. How did you end up with such a historic unit in World War II?
I was twenty years old and already a professional photographer [for Friday magazine, in Los Angeles.] I immediately volunteered for the Army, knowing that doing so would give me the chance to do something related to photography. The fickle finger of fate had me shipped to England, where I worked as a darkroom technician, developing pictures of the army brass at parties. I was stuck. One day, in Stars and Stripes, I saw an ad for this special unit. I grabbed at it, even though I had no military training whatsoever. I went to Scotland to be interviewed by Colonel Darby. He took one look at my papers and said, “Stern, I’m building this unit with men who can march 40 miles with mortar shells, so what would I do with a photographer?” I said, “Colonel, you’re putting together a very, very special unit and it’s obviously got some special goals and actions in this war. Don’t you think this should be documented?” I was in like flint.
 American troops entered Comiso, Sicily, 1943 © Phil Stern / CPi, published by powerHouse Books. For more information visit www.powerHousebooks.com
Did Darby give you free reign of what you wanted to shoot?
I could be anywhere I wanted. That’s how I got wounded. I made it a practice to be as unnoticeable as possible.
How exactly did you do that?
I ain’t gonna tell you my trade secrets! If you’re intent on doing something, you find a way to do it. I knew from the very beginning when I started photography, that if I was going to be effective at all, I had to be chameleon-like, and I had to get photographs of people doing things who were unaware of me or sufficiently intrigued by what they were doing that they would ignore me.
You must have been terrified while you were taking some of these shots. How did you do it?
The terrifying quality was always muted considerably by the things that you did to survive and the attention you paid for your safety. You have to understand that I was twenty-one years old. I’m indestructible, I’m healthy, nobody’s gonna hurt you. And if you’re a photographer and a serious one and you love what you’re doing, then [you get lost in] the subject matter, at what fate puts in front of you. The closer you are to the front lines, the closer you are to so-called “goodies,” but sometimes you have to relinquish them.
 © Phil Stern / CPi, published by powerHouse Books. For more information visit www.powerHousebooks.com
Tell me about this picture of the naked soldiers on the beach.
I call it the Culture Clash picture. Here the GIs are, flaunting themselves in front of the Arabs, knowing full well what their behavior means to a Muslim. That photo could actually be taken today.
 Soldiers and Locals on a Mediterranean Beach © Phil Stern
While you were working in Hollywood, you rarely lit a shot, choosing instead to go out with your hand-held camera and use the available light. Such as this shot here, of Nat King Cole. Was this a style you set out to master?
The one thing that photographers today don’t take advantage of are the slow exposures. I know now that if I had used a flash with that shot, it would have been horrible. The only way to make that photograph was a time exposure on a solid surface, like a table or a tripod. I can’t remember the exact circumstances of this photo, but I think I used a tripod. There isn’t one person looking at the camera. Everyone is either looking directly at Nat King Cole, or affected by him. With flash, it wouldn’t have the quality that makes it something out of the ordinary. A lot of this stuff is done instinctually without any rhyme or reason. The rhyme or reason occurs after you think about it.
 Nat King Cole © Phil Stern / CPi, published by powerHouse Books. For more information visit www.powerHousebooks.com
Does a photographer's own personal likes or dislikes matter when shooting a subject. Take jazz, for instance. Were you a big fan?
No, not at all. I was hired to take pictures for album covers for the Verve label. I like jazz but I don’t love it, unlike another photographer named Bill Claxton. He loves jazz and is a first-rate photographer, but objectively speaking, I believe I stand up well beside him. Even though I do not have what is arguably the advantage of being obsessed with jazz.
How did you manage to get such natural shots from so many Hollywood stars, like Marlon Brando and John Wayne? Nowadays it's almost impossible to take a candid shot of a celebrity, unless you’re hiding in a bush.
The access problem was no big deal for me: entertainment magazines were assigning me to cover these people. But if I were doing this now, I’d be scared to death of trying to get into this field. I don’t think they ended up loving me, but they found me acceptable. And once a movie star like James Dean finds you acceptable, you’re off and running.
 Sophia Lauren, 1958 © Phil Stern / CPi, published by powerHouse Books. For more information visit www.powerHousebooks.com
You ended up becoming friends with James Dean. Explain your relationship with one of your most popular subjects.
We never became buddy-buddy. I was 11 years older than him, so there was a cultural difference. I was somebody he respected and liked, but I didn’t respect and like him as much as he did me. He was just another character to me.
Did you know at the time when he was still alive that he would become an icon?
No, not at all. He died having made only three films, and being only 24 years old. He started out on a path to self-destruction, and he was eminently successful. It was a good career move for him to die at that age. He’ll never been seen as a bald, pot-bellied old man. The image of him is always this young, virile-looking guy. He’s one of the Olympian figures in the general culture.
With this shoot in Googie’s Diner, Dean and his friends seem so at ease around you. How did you do it?
I have no idea!
 James Dean at Googie's Diner in Hollywood, May 1955 © Phil Stern / CPi, published by powerHouse Books. For more information visit www.powerHousebooks.com
Getting back to the subject of trust, and how these guys – Wayne, Dean, Sinatra – trusted you, do you think it had to do with you being wounded in the war?
Wayne and Bogart knew, but Jimmy didn’t know, and if he had, it wouldn’t have impressed him.
Phil Stern's Photo Gear:
-4X5 plate camera (Speed Graphic) -Rolleiflex, Contax and Nikon cameras -35 mm view finder cameras -Hulcher hi speed sequence camera....super long (1000 mm telephoto lenses)
All Photos (except "Culture Clash") are from A Life's Work by Phil Stern / CPi, published by powerHouse Books. For more information visit www.powerHousebooks.com >>Click here to read Phil Stern's Tips & Techniques... >>Click here to read Phil Stern's Bio and Background...
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
© 2002 - 2008 Take Great Pictures |
||||||||||||||||||||||
