By Lawrence Grant
ASC Magazine February 1931
Mr.Grant is one of Hollywood’s best known character actors. Photoghraphy is his hobby, and his portrait work is considered among the finest. As a pictoralist he also claims distinction. In the future issues of this magazine Mr.Grant will contribute a series of interesting articles, with his own illustrations. Editor’s Note.
TRADITION has it that, many years ago, an aspiring young photographer asked Edward Steichen, then, as now, the dean of American camerists, what was the secret of making artistic pictures. And to this question, tradition tells us that Mr. Steichen responded, “Simply make them easy to look at.“
There is a great deal of truth in that definition. Photography, whether professional or amateur, is primarily a means of making accurate and pleasing representations of whatever may lie before the lens of the camera. In its ability to do this lies both its commercial value, and its claim to artistic standing. Being a basically mechanical process, its accuracy is unquestionable, while the fact that it can, in a great measure, be controlled by the individual photographer indicates that it can be made to make pleasing pictures of almost any subject —which gives it a place among the arts. [Read more…] about Portrait Pitfalls (1931)