Glamour photography is an ever growing industry. More and more magazines seem to be hitting the shelves and web sites are being created everyday and each is filled with glamour shots of all kinds. But power in photography separates pictures from photographs and photographers from shooters. Anyone can shoot a picture, but not everyone can capture a photograph. Glamour is not something new, its roots go back to the early 1900’s, originating in Hollywood where photographs provided power to the already famous.
The producers wanted their stars to shine, not glimmer, and they knew that good photographers could capture the drama and excitement often associated with Hollywood. Ruth Harriet Louise, a photographer who worked at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM during her early twenties, from 1925 to 1930 was one that helped stars shine using glamour. Her hundreds if not thousands of images helped frame the public’s perception of Hollywood glamour and glitz along with placing importance on fashion—impacting us still today.
Hollywood knows glamour sells, and in 1953, Playboy took glamour to new heights thanks to a young man named Hugh Hefner. At that point, glamour pushed the envelope by including nudity. Though nudity is not a requirement in glamour, “showing a little skin” is often a trademark of glamour, not the theatrical make-up and fancy clothes used by your local mall studios to create so-called glamour shots.
In the next weeks we will cover the following topics:
Adding a touch of glamour to your photography is easy, it only requires one or more main elements of glamour, and photographers shooting for magazines today are successful in incorporating this in their work. Perhaps this is why glamour photography has taken a bad rap at times as narcissistic at its best and downright tawdry and sleazy at its worst. Just like Hollywood, photography has its share of controversy, and with the resurgence of glamour elements in photography, one must be careful in trying to achieve the feel of drama and excitement in an image. When done properly, a touch of glamour in your photography will make your subject shine, placing your subject toe to toe with any Hollywood star any time.