Numfar Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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In my research, I have found that Hurrell let blacks go dead black very often. And I mean BLACK. Now, the real question is do the prints look like that - most of what I have had the opportunity to see is online, or fairly bad print versions in books. How true are those to the originals? Maybe it has more to do with print quality than his (lack of) photography skill/choices/gear limitations.
Still, low-end/limited print quality IS pretty much how his work was distributed. All those 8x10s of stars handed out were not meticulously printed by masters, they were mass produced in an effort to create a cult of personality around this or that movie star. Kids and young men stuck up pictures of this or that starlet on their wall, or inside their army barracks and looked at/loved them for months/years - but they were not great quality.
And that's the feel/vibe I'm trying to reproduce. I know it goes against a lot of what I am naturally inclined to do - I mean, how often do many of us set out to make lower quality images than we are capable of? But i think that's what this project calls for.
I have a slight advantage in that I actually really LIKE the look; and it sort of strikes a cord with my subversive side in that I enjoy making technically weak images that still tell an engaging story. The real trick comes on those rare times when I can make the so-called technical 'problems' add to the mood/feel/story of the final images - which of course makes then not 'problems' at all.
Is it successful? Well, mostly for me yes, but for everyone else - well, that's up to each individual viewer. And realistically, it's hard to tell even from feedback whether people are simply responding to the general feel of 'old hollywood style', or are actually responding to nuances that only we would notice. If it's the former, then I'm doing something right. If it's the latter, then I'm wasting a lot of my own time and sort of fretting over irrelevancies.
I can say that it really, really challenges my mindset when I make these. I mean, I do things that would seem absolutely CRAZY to a modern photographer all in an effort to DEGRADE my images IN CAMERA - all in an effort to produce period-style images. Sometimes I end up shaking my head and laughing out loud at my own damn ideas and actions on how to do this. And a few of the more photo-shoot-experienced subjects and all my assistants just look at me and give me that 'wtf are you doing??' look... but so far, some of it has worked okay.
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