Personal Project Inspiration: Philippe Halsman

For my personal photography project I chose to take photos of people in their current state of being beside a photograph of themselves as a young child. Philippe Halsman is one of the photographers who has inspired me for this project. Portrait photography is one of my favorite types of photography. Capturing people in one single moment that can tell a narrative really captivates my mind. Philippe was born in 1906, in Riga. He started his photography career in Paris, where in 1934 he opened up a portrait studio. Halsman is known strictly for his portrait photography, as he is one like no other. After he moved to the states, he was known for capturing photos and having them on every major magazine. Halsman success came with his wide variety in imagination. His imagination portraits inspired me to think of something I have not seen anyone capture in film photography. For my personal project I had to think of interesting ways to show the person depicting themselves as present and the past. I placed some of the subjects in the same position as their past photo, but I did not want to do that for every photo as I found that boring. What I decided to do was incorporate the photo with the person. For my one photo I placed the subject with the photograph in their hands. I then asked them to place the photo over their face, as their past photograph was a portrait of just their head. This photo captured a single moment, yet with two narratives, past and present. The subject had the body of the present and the face of the past. This is what I found very interesting and imaginative, just like Halsmans photos. I also took major interest in Halsman work because of his partnership with one of my favorite artist, Salvador Dali. He started this in 1941, which led to a majority of interesting and unusual photos. These interesting and different photographs became the most important part on Halsman legacy. My personal projects inspiration came from the works of Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dali's combination.

 

BY: BRONWEN LEWIS