Lucas Williams Photo Class: Masters of Photography

Philippe Halsman (1906-1979):

Halsman first began shooting in Paris. There he became a well known photographer, but during World War II he fled Paris with his family and went the America. He spent the next 30 years working for many major magazine companies. Through his work with the magazine companies he was able to meet many important people, whether they be politicians, musicians, or performers. Halsman was unique is two ways. One way was that he used a special camera that he built himself, which used new technology that no one else at they time had, but more importantly he was unique for his style of photos. Sometimes they were a simple portrait, other times a very confusing but amazing scenes

(like the ones he took with Salvador Dali), but what makes him stand out is that after he finished shooting, he would ask his subjects to jump. These jump pictures have become his main trademark.

I chose Halsman as my master photographer because I really liked his jump pictures. At first they seemed easy enough to do, but it also looked like it would be a lot of fun to shoot them. Though not as fun as the jumps, I also liked Halsman's portraits. Most look very natural and well thought out, while others were simply just funny. Trying to take photos like Halsman has got me more excited about working with people, rather than nature. Before I always thought people were to difficult to work with, but during this project I found out that if you like your subject, and they like you, its really easy (and fun) to have a good photo shoot.

The pictures that inspired me can be found here: Jumps

Below are the photos I took in the same style as Halsman