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Master Photographers Tell You How

Phil Stern Iconic Photographer Capturing The Moment by Joanna Philbin Article rating: 3.85

Whether it’s an image of James Dean peeking out of a turtleneck, Sammy Davis, Jr. executing a dance move in mid-air, or Ella and Satchmo recording their album, the photographs of Phil Stern are as iconic as their subjects. Today they can be seen everywhere: on postcards, classic album covers, even T-shirts.  Phil Stern is one of the legendary photographers of American popular culture.

But what makes Phil Stern great is his ability to capture people being themselves. A Phil Stern photo never looks staged. While working in Hollywood in the Fifties as a freelance photographer, Stern coaxed candid, natural shots out of actors famous for building a public mystique: Marlon Brando, John Wayne, and Humphrey Bogart to name a few.  He caught jazz musicians such as Sarah Vaughn and Art Tatum in the throes of creative passion, and frustration.  Stern actually honed his talent for shooting candid shots during World War II, where he was on the front lines with one of the toughest outfits in the U.S. Army.

Born in New York in 1919, Phil started taking pictures when he was 18 for Police Gazette for $2.50 a shot.  Two years later, he started shooting for the left-wing magazine Friday, which soon transferred him to Los Angeles to cover movie stars as well as social protests.  He was still out west when he volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1942, on the chance that he might be able to parlay his professional skills into a post as combat photographer.  He got his wish.  Stern was assigned to the first Rangers unit of the U.S. Army, known as “Darby’s Rangers” for its charismatic leader, Colonel William O. Darby. While serving as the combat photographer for the Rangers, Stern was wounded in North Africa, but returned to cover Darby’s invasion of Sicily.  “I was like a kid in a toy store,” he says now of his time covering the war.

Upon his return to Los Angeles in 1944, Stern began to cover Hollywood films and celebrities for magazines such as LIFE, Look, and Photoplay.  The 1950s began to see a surge of interest in the private lives of movie stars, who Stern managed to catch in intimate, unguarded poses: Judy Garland playing with her kids in the backyard; John Wayne looking nervous at the wedding of his daughter.  He also served as a still cameraman on films such as “West Side Story,” “Judgment at Nuremberg,” and “Guys and Dolls.”  During this time, he shot jazz album covers for Verve and Reprise Records.  In 1961, Frank Sinatra asked Stern to cover President Kennedy’s Inaugural Ball.

Now in his eighties, Stern published Phil Stern: A Life’s Work (Power House Books) this past November.  The remarkable book chronicles the stages of his career, and reveals Stern’s startling ease with two extremely different subjects: war, and celebrity.  Then again, perhaps these aren’t the polar opposites we believed them to be.

All Photos 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 our interview with Phil Stern...

>>Click here to read Phil Stern's Tips & Techniques...

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very good article Posted by: Kaouadji Riad Jan 15, 2007 @ 3:35 PM EST

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