Photography: Directors

Though, for the most part, I love their films (Michael Heneke’s films frustrates the shit out of me – see Funny Games and Coppola really only made 2 great films, i.e. The Godfathers) but these photographs were not chosen to simply illustrate a list of great directors – no sir! Each photograph is a work of art in its own right. The opener of David Lynch is hilarious and completley unrepresentitive of his work and every other photo taken of him – but the hair is still there.  Check out your favorite cool uncle – John Waters, grandfatherly Billy Wilder, the Fantastic Mr Fox, Wes Anderson and the totally insane, yet slightly fey shot of Tarantino. And you just have to love those eyebrows on Scorsese – lush is not the word.

David Lynch

Takeshi Kitano

John Waters

Jim Jarmusch

Billy Wilder

Wes Anderson

Quentin Tarantino

Michael Haneke

Orson Welles

Martin Scorsese

Alfred Hithcock

Francis Coppola

Pedro Almodovar

Federico Fellini

Photographers: David Arnoff

David Arnoff – In his own words - “Born in Cleveland, raised in L.A., lives in London. No felony convictions thus far.” A pretty good bio line – so much more than that, though. It’s cool to see the originals of some of the best LP covers from the late 70′s-early 80′s. The Cramps first 2 LPs, The Dead Boys, X., etc.  Live shots of the impossibly gangly Joey Ramone and  smokin hot Debbie Harry, early shots of big-haired Nick Cave and seemingly evil Bryan Gregory. It seems that he took shots of every US punk band worth a damn at that time. As he says, he now lives in London, hopefully still with no convictions to his credit. Check out his old and new stuff at http://david-arnoff.com

Stiv Bators - The Dead Boys

The Birthday Party - Mick Harvey, Roland S. Howard, Nick Cave & Tracy Pew

Joey Ramone

Bryan Gregory - The Cramps

Lydia Lunch

Sonic Youth

Debbie Harry - Blondie

Jeffery Lee Pierce - The Gun Club

The Cramps - Bryan Gregory, Nick Knox, Lux Interior & Poison Ivy Rorsach

Excene Cervenka (X) & Lydia Lunch

The Dead Boys

Devo - Booji Boy

Nick Cave & Lydia Lunch

The Cramps - Poison & Lux

Photograhy: Burlesque Promo Shots

Like an actor needs a good head shot, the Burlesques queens of the 40′s – 60′s needed a good promo photo to show off their many talents and attributes. These would be displayed outside the Burlesque houses in Chicago, New York, LA and everywhere inbetween. How else could you decide who you wanted to see? – Diane Ross and her Monkey Squeaky, Heaven Lee - ‘The Devilish Angel of Burlesque’, Precious Diamond, Ann ‘Bang, Bang’ Arbor, Tinker Bell or Maxine Martin ‘The 6′ 4″ Skyscrapper’. Looking at these now, they’re all relitively PG-13 rated but back then they must have been scandolous – I mean the photo of Mickey “Ginger” Jones – ‘The Wham Wham Girl’ is pretty provocative, and Fabulous Fanny’s shot is just plain odd.

Bubbles Darlene

Precious Diamond

Mickey "Ginger" Jones - "The Wham-Wham Girl"

Irma 'The Body"

Tinker Bell

Fabulous Fanny

Ann “Bang Bang” Arbor aka. “The Million Dollar Figure”

Diane Ross and her Monkey Squeaky

Heaven Lee aka. “The Devilish Angel of Burlesque”

Gay Dawn

Holly Hills

Honey Bee

Libby Jones aka. “The Park Avenue Playgirl”

Maxine Martin aka. “The 6’ 4” Skyscraper”

Photography: Weegee

Weegee aka Arthur Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968) Weegee worked in the Lower East Side of New York City as a press photographer during the 1930s and ’40s, -  he developed his signature style by following the city’s emergency services and shooting the outcome. Fellig earned his nickname, a phonetic version of Ouija, because of his frequent, seemingly prescient arrivals at scenes only minutes after crimes, fires or other emergencies were reported to authorities. In the sixties he would give up street photography and work with Stanely Kubrick as the still photographer for Dr. Strangelove.

Dead Man on New York Sidewalk - 1944

Lovers with 3-D Glasses

Weegee sets up a shot

Dominick Diato - 1936

Burlesque Dancer 1950

The Gold Painted Stripper - 1950

Cop Killer - 1941

Trampled Woman on the Pier - 1939

Movie Premiere - 1951

Weegee 1963

 

 

 

 

Photographers: Francis Wolff

Francis Wolff (1907 or 1908  – March 8, 1971) Francis Wolff worked for Blue Note Records in the 50′s and 60′s in a number of capacaties – as producer, accountant, executive – and as a photographer. Wolff was the fly on the wall for most of Blue Notes’ most important sessions and he took pictures of everything and everyone. His photos were used on a huge number of LP covers (the below photo being Coltranes’ Blue Train session) and are still used for the reissues of the Blue Note library.

John Coltrane

Miles Davis

Baby Face Willette

Sonny Rollins

Herbie Hancock

Miles

Philly Joe Jones

Coltrane and Lee Morgan

Thelonius Monk

Sonny Rollins

Max Roach

Style: Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) – Andy Warhol        We all know Andy’s work – his multi-colored silk screen portraits of the rich and famous, the soup cans, Marilyn, Elvis, etc. We also know what Andy looks like – the crazy white/platinum wig and clear glasses. It’s interesting though to see the man in a different light, young, unposed and in a few cases – in drag.

Self Portrait

Andy & Edie Sedgwick

Andy & Edie & ?

Andy 1965

Andy & Ali 1978

Andy 1984

Andy & Jean-Michel Basquiat