Change of Mood (Board)

Had a small shuffle-round of the images on the inspiration board this evening (the blue pinboard that hangs above my desk as a little reminder of my fads of the week/month/year). Some are transient, some are more permanent!

Current prompts:

1. Business card for Woodtype and Font Shop originally in Brighton where I bought my printers' tray and two woodcut print letters
2. Tag from Girl from Blue City bourbon biscuit necklace (birthday present!)
3. Business card for my website, b seen photography, to remind me to update it now and then...
4. Postcard from amazing stationery shop in Brighton's Sydney Street, Pen to Paper

5. Mini chalkboard-clipboard, true purpose as yet unknown but here reminding me which eras I seem to be obsessed with at the moment... 20s and 60s...

6. Photo-postcard of actress Mona Maris by E. O. Hoppé

via here

7. Mick Jagger by Colin Jones, courtesy of the Guardian and Observer, also on display at the National Portrait Gallery

via here

 8. Photo-postcard of Rebecca West also by Hoppé

via here

9. Postcard of Automat, Edward Hopper, originally featured here

10. Postcard of Le Jugement de Paris, George Barbier, also previously featured here

11. Photo-postcard of The Rolling Stones, by David Bailey

via here

 12.  Photo-postcard of Marianne Faithfull, by Gered Mankowitz

via here

 

13. "A terrier poses for the camera", © Ros Fraser Collection/Mary Evans

via here

14. Photo-postcard of Lily Cole, "Like a painting", by Miles Aldridge

via here

Have decided that the sublime Louise Brooks photo deserves a frame rather than a ladybird pin adhesion...

The Original Glamour

Just a quick post ...
Had the chance to visit the Glamour of the Gods exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery [London] yesterday and it was beaaaaautiful. It featured photos from the John Kobal collection of photographs of Hollywood stars of the 1920s to the 1950s (including some candids) -- and was a real treat for the eyes.

It was startling to gauge how young some actors were when they were discovered, and how many names were changed along the way, notably, it seems, to "mask" ethnicity ... how beautiful/handsome and startlingly photogenic these individuals were (and had to be!), and how creative the photographers were in their framing.

...That said... it was alarming even in the pre-Photoshop years how many photographs were retouched and to what degree... Removing an actress's [I forget who...] expression lines and freckles (removing her expression lines = 1940s photographic Botox...) for instance, eliminated those tiny hints of "imperfection" and made the image of the Hollywood actress even more unattainable...

Anyway, enough of my misguided diatribe.

This was by far my favourite shot:

Louise Brooks, by Eugene Robert Richee // via here

So much is right with this. [Not the best reproduction here but you get the gist!]