Back in December 2009, I was given one of the best Christmas Presents I think I have ever gotten. I was given the opportunity to spend the day with George Hurrells Last Assistant, Richard Settle. Not only did I get to spend the day talking with Richard about George Hurrell and his techniques, I was able to watch never before seen footage of George Hurrell Shooting some big time celebrities and musicians, in the last part of his life.

Richard served in the U.S. Navy 1967 to 1971 as the unofficial ship’s photographer, and then worked at Capitol Records from 1973-1980.  From 1980 to 1992 Richard and his partner ran a photographic rental studio, in which photographers could come in and rent space for a day and photograph their subjects. I was at this time when George Hurrell came into contact with Richard and the rental studio.

Visage, a photographic agency that represented Hurrell at that time, contacted Richard and told him they needed a studio for George to shoot in. Richard was a little struck, but shortly after the phone called George Hurrell pulled up in his station wagon with his gear, and proceeded to unload.

George Hurrell shot at the rental studio from 1981 up to just before his death in 1992. At this time George has just finished filming a documentary about his work and life called “Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell”. Richard also was a part and can be seen in another documentary called the Hollywood Fashion Machine: George Hurrell. Legends in Light can sometimes be gotten through Amazon, but the Hollywood Fashion Machine is not in print and can only be gotten through certain channels.

I sat and watched about an hours worth of Never-Before-Seen edited footage of Richard assisting George Hurrell shooting movie stars and musicians such as John Sedler, Emilia Crow, Glen Scott, Natalie Cole, Jeff Fahey, Ry Cooder, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, Jefferson Wagner, David Duchovny, Bryan Murphy, Tony Peck, Dean Stockwell and Mario Van Peebles. It was funny to listen to some of the stars talking to the camera and to George, their just ordinary people, doing a movie stars job. “uhh, what’s the camera for?” hahahaha.

Below is a video I took of Richard and I at the end of the day, I wish I could share the video with the rest of the world but I can’t, hopefully some day Richard will get the releases to create a video for the world to see one of the best Hollywood Glamour Photographers of all time, George Hurrell.

I want to thank Richard Settle for his generosity and gift of memories.

Thanks Richard!!!

Richard can be reached here: http://home.earthlink.net/~resettle

Natalie Cole Shot by George Hurrell

The Oscar shot in the rental studio of Richard Settle

George Hurrell surrounded by his work

George Hurrell shooting Ann Sheridan

George Hurrell Shooting Ann Sheridan and James Cagney

Richard Settle Standing next to his photo of George Hurrell and his photo BY George Hurrell.

Richard Settle Photo by George Hurrell

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Check out the list of recommended
Hollywood Glamour Photography
Books and Videos Here

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Click here to visit craftandvision.com - David duChemin.

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After about a month of battling the Flu and a back issue, I am finally getting this gallery and post up regarding the Evie Lovelle Shoot. The day I shot Evie I was actually coming down with the flu, and for the following two weeks had the flu and then back issues, from popping a rib out of place from all the sneezing I did.  Not Fun.

Anyway so Evie can over and we talked and went over some ideas for the shoot and discussed the order in which we were going to do the outfits she brought. I had her get into the first outfit and then did a quick video interview which is going to be on PinupoftheMonth.com, but I included a video here of us shooting and my messing with the lighting. The equipment list for this shoot is as follows, no strobes were used at all, only Fresnel.

Equipment list as far as lighting:

2 – 500 Watt Fresnel Lamps for kickers similar to these

2 – 300 Watt Altman Fresnel Lamps for Key and Fill Light

2 – 200 Watt Mole – Richardson Midget Fresnel Lamps for Side and Background Light

My Background Setup or one of them is the Manfroto AutoPole System by Bogen Imaging

In a previous post I included a video of Evie dancing to give people an idea of what a burlesque dancer does. Burlesque can be left up to some interpretation, but her dance is a classic style and with classic outfits. The video I included is here.

The video of Evie Lovelle and I working together is first, then the gallery of the shoot.

And here’s the gallery…Enjoy!

How was this post? Good? Bad? Or?
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Check out the list of recommended
Hollywood Glamour Photography
Books and Videos Here

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Click here to visit craftandvision.com - David duChemin.

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Be sure to check out the Photography Lighting Diagrams for this shoot HERE

I have people wanting to know how I set my lights up and how I get some of the effects I do for Hollywood Glamour and Film Noir Lighting. Most times when I do Hollywood glamour photography I use Fresnel lights, the same type of lights they use in Hollywood on movie sets. In fact I use several very old lights that were probably used on a Hollywood lot somewhere. I have two lights that are from the 1950′s.

When I first started this type of photography I felt I should use the same exact lights to get the same type of effect. I still feel the same as when I started, however I have adapted several strobes to do a similar effect, but it’s still not quite the same. You can get strobe flashes fitted with Fresnel lenses to get the same focusing effect but to me it’s just not quite the same.

The main difference between a Fresnel Lens Hot Light and a strobe, IS the Lens. A Fresnel lens is the same lens used in lighthouses and that long focused beam. A Fresnel Lens has the ability to focus to a hot beam of spotlight or open up and spread out for a wide spray of illuminating fill light. You can also use the edge of the circle of light, called feathering as a fill light or an edge light.

The center of the circle of light is a hot spot, and the edge is a softer feather edge. The Fresnel gives a hard light but also has a creamy soft quality to it. It’s hard to describe but it is something you can see and experience when shooting. A strobe has a hard quality to it with no softness at all with the bare bulb, nor does it have any focusing ability or softness unless you use a modifier. Then even with a modifier it’s too soft, and can’t give a hard edge shadow as the Fresnel can give. The modifier, usually a softbox wraps the light around corners and spreads the light everywhere. You can’t get a good hard edge on the shadow needed for a good paramount lighting under the nose. I will give a couple comparison photos another time but below is a video of a shoot I did with the model Kristabelle. It shows the lighting diagrams and actual shoot we did with Fresnel lights and a shot with a strobe.

Enjoy…

Darkman.

How was this post? Good? Bad? Or?
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Check out the list of recommended
Hollywood Glamour Photography
Books and Videos Here

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Click here to visit craftandvision.com - David duChemin.

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Annie Leibovitz is one of my favorite photographers.  Her work is well known, spans several decades, and several magazines including Rolling Stone and Vogue. In this video she is photographing the founder of Profoto, Conny Dufgran, for a 40Th year anniversary head shot and celebration. Profoto is some of the finest equipment in the industry and I am guessing Annie uses it herself.

I always like watching behind the scenes shots and video, so I can learn and expand my vision. While looking on you tube for other stuff I also found a second video of Annie doing the Marie Antoinette shoot for Vogue, pretty cool stuff there.

Enjoy…

The Profoto Shoot:

The Annie Leibovitz/ Marie Antoinette shoot for Vogue

How was this post? Good? Bad? Or?
Please leave a comment below!

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Check out the list of recommended
Hollywood Glamour Photography
Books and Videos Here

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Click here to visit craftandvision.com - David duChemin.

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