Celebrity portraits I usually associate with lameness and those newspaper Sunday magazines but Craig McDean manages to make the exceptions. I came across these when I was trying to find an editorial for my last post and I liked them all! The Kate Moss one makes me think of how early-to-mid-2000s is already becoming a retro trend, the Kirsten Dunst one makes me think about her time in rehab :(, the Scarlett Johansson one is just very intense and the Kristen Stewart one makes me laugh. In a good way! I hope it makes you laugh too.
Celebrity portraits are pretty strange things I guess. Way back in the day, especially in the 40s and 50s when Hollywood was really in its groove, these photos were simpler, happier, less full of subtext and meaning. My grandmother has a wall full of framed, signed photos of actors like Fred Astair and Greta Garbo and the like, and in every one they are smiling and glamorous and perfect - if they had torrid personal lives and everything was falling a part, who were we to know! We just liked to look at people being pretty. These days, actors channel the torment that those past actors were hiding or channel themselves or generally look mysterious and thoughtful or channel the mysterious and thoughtful lives that their characters lead and it's all very Vanity Fair. But even though it's a bit contrived, if it gets me some nice photos in the end, well I'm cool with that.
Celebrity portraits are pretty strange things I guess. Way back in the day, especially in the 40s and 50s when Hollywood was really in its groove, these photos were simpler, happier, less full of subtext and meaning. My grandmother has a wall full of framed, signed photos of actors like Fred Astair and Greta Garbo and the like, and in every one they are smiling and glamorous and perfect - if they had torrid personal lives and everything was falling a part, who were we to know! We just liked to look at people being pretty. These days, actors channel the torment that those past actors were hiding or channel themselves or generally look mysterious and thoughtful or channel the mysterious and thoughtful lives that their characters lead and it's all very Vanity Fair. But even though it's a bit contrived, if it gets me some nice photos in the end, well I'm cool with that.
