THE COLLECTOR

In the San Fernando Valley, where I am from, and indeed throughout Los Angeles, in every bagel shop, dry cleaners and Winchell's, you will find this, the 8x10 glossy. Though what differentiates these from those, is that these people are actually famous. I came across most of these generously offered on Flicker, by an autograph collector named "Pat", but if I could find a collection of the obscure and never were, now that would be something, although, I doubt it would be too hard. 

"I NEVER SAID I WANT TO BE ALONE. I ONLY SAID, I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE. THERE IS ALL THE DIFFERENCE" -GRETA GARBO

This incredible and incredibly rare image of JD Salinger appeared in New York Magazine last week. It was taken in 1988. It spurred my thinking about the nature of privacy and the nature of photography. Really, the two seem to be mutually exclusive, a photograph is, by definition an invasion of privacy, as the image outlives the subjects reign over it. A photograph also is, by definition, some sort of exploitation of the subject, but I'll deal with that later.
Nowadays though, I don't think people really value or understand the sanctity of privacy, as every thought, detail and idea must be on display for public consumption. It's almost as though any expression not validated by an audience seems hardly to exist at all.
So I've got this blog you see...

MY IDEA OF A GOOD PICTURE IS ONE THAT'S OF A FAMOUS PERSON, PART 2 (MORE RECENTLY)

I guess this is a rather strange and rather small assortment of images that I've liked recently of celebrities. I guess that's cause there really aren't all that many. I remember reading a quote some years back from the brilliant photographer Katy Grannan. She talked about how she really didn't like to photograph celebrities much, and used an example of an assignment she had had to shoot Halle Berry. She said (and I paraphrase) that Halle Berry came to set as Halle Berry and never for one second stopped being Halle Berry and that there is no getting in or around that. I think its very hard when you are handling someone with a persona so defined, and so coddled. I found that fashion photographers though, can be successful here, as they heighten the image of the celebrity rather than dissect and break it down, which, in most cases is all but impossible, but let's face it, the portrait photographer's natural inclination.