What is Philip Halsman's photography style?

Philippe Halsman (1906 ~1979) was born in Latvia, Europe, and started photography in 1933. During World War II, with the help of scientist Einstein, Halsman fled to the United States with his wife and children, with a box and a camera, and has lived in new york ever since.

In new york, Halsman's photographic talent was fully demonstrated. As a master of portrait photography, his portraits are famous for their ingenious surrealism and humorous snapshots. His works have been used as the cover of Life magazine the most, with a total of 10 1 works selected.

(A) psychological portrait

Halsman is proficient in psychology and is good at shooting unique "psychological portraits". He believes that a good portrait photo not only needs the photographer to know the basic photography skills, but also needs his subject. Only in this way can we grasp the characteristics of the characters in the photo and make it a unique portrait photo. Halsman thinks:

A portrait photo, if it does not show the inner spiritual world of the character, can't be a real portrait, but just a superficial shell.

However, it is not easy to fully express the characters' personalities and explore their inner world in practice. The subject usually feels nervous and uneasy in front of the camera. Halsman always knows the subject's experience and personality in advance, and then inspires and induces different characters through conversation. Sometimes, he will invite subjects to listen to music and drink coffee to make them feel relaxed, thus showing their true and natural expressions. Sometimes, he also makes the subjects jump and then takes a snapshot when they jump. In his studio, there is an electronic flash device, which can shoot all kinds of instantaneous actions at a high speed exceeding11000 seconds.

In Halsman's view, different jumping movements can reflect different people's personality characteristics and psychological state. Because, at the moment of jumping, people can eliminate psychological barriers and social appearances and reveal their true character. Halsman once had such a sentence:

At the moment of jumping, human power suddenly broke out and overcame the gravity of the earth. At this point, he can't control his facial expressions and body movements.

So, at this moment, people's masks are taken off and their true selves are exposed.

People just need to capture this shot with a camera.

Halsman published "Jump" on 1959. This book contains the jumping moments of 176 celebrities he shot in 6 years. These celebrities include scientists, writers, artists, theologians, jurists and politicians. Halsman has extensively studied their jumping psychology, such as Marilyn Monroe's naive and lively nature when jumping, and edward steichen's take-off action when jumping all show his character of loving research and being good at learning.

(2) Dali of atoms

Halsman's surrealist style is typically reflected in a series of photos he took for the painter Dali.

Spanish painter Dali is a good friend of Halsman. Dali's works are grotesque and surreal. Halsman is also a very restless photographer. He is not satisfied with taking photography as a mirror to record reality, but he is bent on stepping on this mirror and entering a fantasy fairyland. So, they hit it off and worked together for 30 years. Halsman often asks Dali to be his photography model, because Dali's image is as strange as his paintings, especially his eyes and beard, which are unforgettable. Many of Halsman's works, such as Atomic Dali and Pink Scarlet, were completed in cooperation with Dali. Among them, Dali of Atoms is his masterpiece.

Dali of the atom was taken at 1948. The idea of this photo originated from a painting by Dali. Dali once painted a picture called Leda of the atom (Leda is a character in Greek mythology). Everything in the painting is suspended in the air. So, Halsman came up with the idea of shooting Dali of the Atom. He told Dali this idea, and they hit it off and decided to shoot this surreal work together. Halsman described the shooting process:

I borrowed three cats. At first, I used one to do the experiment. I thought it would be better to use three together, so I changed my mind.

I shouted "one, two, three". On the count of three, my three assistants throw the cat out together, and the fourth assistant is responsible for splashing water. When the cat and the water were still in the air, I shouted "four" and Dali jumped up. I took these. ...

In this way, in six hours, after 28 times of throwing, jumping and splashing, I finally got a satisfactory picture.

This photo was published in Life magazine for two pages, and was later reprinted by publications in many countries.