Black & White Is Colorful In Hollywood Style

When you think of Hollywood in the 1930’s, you think of photographs by people like George Hurrell.  Shots of Bogart, Hepburn, Crawford, Cagney… the actors who filled the screen in the 1930’s.  But the painstaking technique that went into such shots doesn’t seem to be seen much in this digital era.

From the Hollywood of the 30’s, Dallas Photographer Mark Oristano has created “Hollywood/1935″.”

“I always loved Hurrell’s work,” says portrait photographer Oristano, “and a couple of years back I studied with Michael Grecco, the great portrait photographer from L.A.We learned all about constant style lighting with things like Mole-Richardsons.I found some of the old Mole’s on ebay and began to work with them.”

But to get the true effect, Oristano decided to step back from digital and return to the film camera.But this was a very special film camera.

“I have an Army Signal Corps 4×5 Speed Graphic from World War II.  It’s the same model camera that Joe Rosenthal used to take the famous Iwo Jima photo.It’s well over sixty years old and it still takes great photos.  You get detail out of the 4×5 negative you don’t get, even in hi-res digital.”

The old-time look has begun to catch on in Dallas, where former sportscaster Oristano has been shooting engagement shots, senior portraits and more in the Hollywood/1935 style.

“Probably the most fun is the look on people’s faces when they see the final result.they really have no idea, after the long styling and shooting session, how amazing their shot will come out.”

The shoots take about twice as long as an average portrait session given the delicacy of the lighting.  The techniques, while fairly simple to figure out from the old Hollywood photos, are often difficult to replicate.But with a little bit of work, you can find out how to create this 1930’s magic.