PAGE TURNERS
This large, beautiful volume of portraits by a renowned fashion photographer portrays the inner lives of some of the world's best known personalities
SAMILA SUTTISILTUM
In a foreword to Marc Hom's Portraits, written by Lauren Bacall, the acting legend expressed she "had a hard time" trying to choose her images taken by Hom.
Her feeling is shared here, when only some 10 or so images must be chosen for publication in this column, from a large collective of over 150 pictures of some of the world's most influential creative forces, all captured by Hom in their most candid manner - thanks to the photographer's photographic approach of letting his subjects be nothing but themselves.
In this first volume by the Copenhagen-born photographer, who rose to fame following his magnificent collaboration with the late Liz Tilberis and Fabien Baron in Harper's Bazaar, Hom's subjects include entertainment figures from legends like Alain Delon, Vanessa Redgrave, Elvis Costello, Martin Scorsese, Glenn Close, and Al Pacino to a bunch of the most interesting personalities in Hollywood like Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Spike Jonze, Sofia Coppola, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Juliette Binoche, Jarvier Bardem to Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley, the latter two in their most recognisable images. Also featured in the book is a number of portraits of the world's most intriguing designers like Alexander McQueen, Hedi Slimane, Vivienne Westwood and Sir Paul Smith as well as two of the most influential football players of their era, Dutch master Johan Cruyff and the ubiquitous David Beckham.
 |
PORTRAITS
By Marc Hom
teNeues Publishing, 2006, 256pp, 4,495 baht
ISBN 978-383-2791-61-2 |
What's most notable about Hom's portraits, however, is not the fame of the photographed subjects, but the way these people are portrayed. In a time when media consumers are heavily bombarded with images of celebrities, Hom's works stand out for their naturalism. He prefers that his subjects do whatever they want during a photo shoot, while he fires away on shots in his own way. His images are an attempt to bridge the barrier between the camera and photographed people - a way of trying to understand the character through photography.
Hence, we have Gary Oldman looking so natural with his cigar, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark in the familiar glowing smile that has won not just the hearts of all Danes but a large portion of the world's female population, Alexander McQueen in an image that best defines his enfant terrible of the fashion world nickname, Johan Cruyff in a shot that best underlines the legendary footballer's tireless fascination with the sport, Milla Jovovich sitting on a car roof at the Cannes Film Festival - undeniably one of the most memorable shots of this wild-child actress/model.
While monochrome images dominate the book, there are some rare colour portraits, which lets you know it's this Danish photographer who actually pioneers this raw, unpolished candid fashion portraiture that dominates the pages of all fashion and style publications nowadays - evident in images of Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Pharrell Williams, Vivienne Westwood and Diego Luna.
With the digital manipulation taking over the world of photography by storm, it's getting ever rarer to find a photographer who works less with techniques, and more with his heart, desire and unyielding philosophy to achieve a goal of revealing the true character of a person through an image as Marc Hom does.
Available at Asia Books.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Next
