HERB

“When I have an apartment of my own, one of the first things I’m going to do is buy an Herb Ritts print to hang on the wall,” said my friend Jhasilyn as we left the Getty Center last week. All I could do was smile and agree with her. Why?

 … because we had come full-circle. Nearly a decade ago, we were two awkward teens in our 9th-grade photography class, presenting a Powerpoint slideshow on the work of a photographer that neither of us knew or truly understood… Herb Ritts.

The year was 2003. Less than two months before our presentation, Ritts had died of complications of pneumonia – and that was pretty much the extent of our familiarity with him. We had seen reports of his death on the news – and were reminded of the Britney Spears and Janet Jackson music videos he directed. When our teacher assigned us the task of researching a photographer and presenting a Powerpoint slideshow on our findings, we decided to do our project on Ritts (because his name was fresh on our minds). After all, the man was famous for directing music videos and photographing celebrities. In the end, that’s the kind of thing that truly matters to 14-year-olds.

What fate it is that ten years after our presentation, Jhasilyn and I should both be in the great city of Los Angeles… and that an exhibition of the work of Herb Ritts should be on display at the Getty Center!

Anyway.

Walking around that great gamut of Ritts prints the other day, I was taken aback by more than just the artistic prettiness in front of me. While gazing upon photos of Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, I realized that Herb Ritts has had a HUGE influence on my artistic preferences. It’s almost purely a subconscious influence, but it’s one that has held a grip on me for years… and I haven’t even been cognizant of it.

So, what is it about these simple black and white celebrity photographs that have compelled me from a young age and never let me go?

When I was in middle school and the Calvin Klein ad below adorned my Social Studies binder, I had no earthly idea who had taken the picture. Frankly, I didn’t give two craps because I’m pretty sure I liked the picture for something beyond its aesthetic merits. BUT it goes to show that Ritts has been a part of my life since my youth… even when I didn’t know his name.

The first time I registered the name Herb Ritts was when ‘N Sync released the music video for their single “Gone.” It was black and white. It was artsy-fartsy – the kind of music video where you’re really AWARE of the fact that somebody directed it… And the name on the title card was “Herb Ritts.”



Okay, so here’s the part of the blog entry where I try to make a point and tell you why I’m writing all of this in the first place.

It’s a little embarrassing, but I’ll just go ahead and say it.

I absolutely adore black and white films. Quite frankly, it sounds cooler to say that the movies of Elia Kazan or cinematographer Gregg Toland influenced this adoration… rather than a dumb music video by a boy band that’s basically slipped into irrelevancy for most people. While making a film, you can’t really turn to your cinematographer and say “Hey, why don’t we make this look like that N Sync video?” without being chuckled at and taken far less seriously. So, you play it cool and you recommend that he/she take notes on the imagery in Woody Allen’s MANHATTAN.

Well, as always, I’m through trying to be cool in front of other people! This blog makes me look asinine ninety percent of the time anyway.

Herb Ritts and his photos and music videos have influenced my love of black and white more than any classic movie! And Ritts shouldn’t be deemed less relevant or taken less seriously because he worked with a few tongue-in-cheek musical artists… or because he took pictures of some silly celebrities for silly fashion magazines. The man was truly brilliant.

To look at some of his pictures is to take a lesson in photography. Each photograph is an homage to simplicity and contrast. Because his style is so sparse, you really get a sense of the subject he’s photographing. Oftentimes, the subject is a person.

In every aspect of filmmaking, contrast is everything. Actors can’t really play a scene believably unless they possess at least minutely opposing objectives. A film goes nowhere if it lacks a sense of conflict. (And conflict is totally just a fancy way of saying “contrast,” is it not?)

There’s nothing more blatantly contrast-y than black and white photography. So, I find it a great conundrum that more movies aren’t made in black and white.

I’m an old soul. I think Herb Ritts was too. In fact, I think his work helped to make an old soul of me. After all, it took traipsing around a gallery of his work for me to realize I had to put into a blog entry my love of black and white.

Back in 9th grade, Jhasilyn and I didn’t know much about Mr. Ritts. Actually, we still don’t! However, I believe we were on to something when we did our presentation on him. We connected to his work… and how, through black and white imagery, he unearthed the sincerity in his subjects.

And where art is concerned, WHAT is more important than that?

Ciao for now.