OFWGKTA: Stanley Kubrick write up

When you hear the name Stanley Kubrick what comes to mind first off is not photographer but rather filmmaker extraordinar. Though Stanley Kubrick produced many famous movies from Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001 Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and the Shining to name only a few. Kubrick did not start out as a filmmaker.

Stanley Kubrick was born on July 26, 1928 in Lying-In Hospital in Manhattan, New York. Stanley was the first of two children born to Jacques (Jacob) Leonard Kubrick and Sadie Gertrude Kubrick. Both of Kubrick’s parents were Jewish but were not a religious family he never had a bar- mitzvah and he never attended a synagogue.

As a young boy he was not at all interested in what was going on in his local neighborhood. Then the teenage years came and Kubrick was your typical teenager hanging out with his friends, playing baseball and chasing girls. His friends saw that Kubrick was a talented guy. Kubrick’s father taught his young son how to play the game of Chess as he felt that it would be something that Kubrick could take with him. When Kubrick was thirteen years old his father bought him a Graflex camera. It was that Graflex camera that set off Kubrick’s fascination with still photography.

Kubrick was considered to be a poor student by his father the successful Physician in the community with a meager 67 grade average. (That would be a C+ which I don’t really think is all that bad). Kubrick often skipped classes to attend the matinee in town to catch a double feature. Kubrick’s father knew that his son was capable of much more and was disappointed at his failure to achieve excellence in school. Despite his father encouraging Kubrick to read he had no desire to do so but one thing his father did allow was time for Kubrick to take photography to a whole new level. Kubrick was chosen as the official school photographer for one year while in high school.

When Kubrick graduated in 1945 it wasn’t easy for him to get into college/university. Remember Kubrick had poor grades and on top of that there was at that time a great demand for the admission of soldiers during the Second World War, his hopes for a higher education were bleak. In 1946 Kubrick enrolled in evening classes at City College in New York (CCNY). To help pay for his education Kubrick would play games of Chess for money. Looks like the game of Chess he learned as a young boy from his father came in handy in his later years.

In 1945 Kubrick sold a photograph to “Look” magazine for $25 of a broken-hearted newsvendor and his reaction to hearing of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Not long after the sale of that photo Kubrick was hired by “Look” and became the youngest staff photographer in the history of the magazine. While working at “Look” Kubrick married his high-school sweetheart Toba Mertz in 1948 however, the marriage was over after just 3 years. During this time in his life more and more he began to frequent film screenings at the Museum of Modern Art and the cinemas in New York City. He stayed with “Look” until 1950 at which time he left to pursue his dream of filmmaking.

Over Kubrick’s career as a filmmaker he never forgot his roots as a photographer and would use the skills that he acquired as a photographer to enhance each of his films. Kubrick felt that he was successful with the scenes that he photographed because of his early years as a photographer. Being a photographer was Kubrick’s ‘set up to movies’ and when it comes to filming well knowledge of photography is essential.

Kubrick went on to marry wife #2 in 1955 an Austrian-born dancer named Ruth Sobotka. That marriage ended in divorce in 1957. Then in 1959 Kubrick married wife #3 Christiane Harlan a German-born actress. The couple had two daughters together and one-step daughter that Christiane had brought to the marriage. The two were married for 40 years until Kubrick’s death in 1999. Kubrick died on March 7, 1999 just days after reviewing a final cut of “Eyes wide shut” for his family and the stars who appeared in the movie. Kubrick died in his sleep of a heart attack at the age of 70. Many people believed that he worked himself to death with the long hours he put in to get his final movie out.

After Kubrick’s death his wife Christiane put together a very personal-collection of photographs that had never been seen before and published the book Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures.

Kubrick’s photographs are currently on display at The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Belgium until July 1, 2012. Over 10,000 negatives were viewed with only 200 photographs making the final cut to be on display. While I was in Belgium during Spring Break I wanted nothing more than to see this exhibit unfortunately time didn’t permit it but hopefully one day I too will be able to take in this amazing exhibit of my favorite photographer.

SCHOOLING

Columbia University – New York

City College – New York (evening classes)

William H. Taft High School – Bronx 1946

Awards

Kubrick never received any awards for his photography however he did receive awards for filmmaking and those films all were shot with cameras. He received too many nominations to quote but he did receive the OSCAR for 2001 Space Odyssey (1968) for Best Effects: Special Visual Effects.

Equipment

Graflex Camera – his first camera from his father.

Modified Leica 72 (1955)

He wasn’t really around for the Photoshop age so his work in photography was all done with film.

When I observe Kubrick’s photography work I see a man who was a visionary. Kubrick had the ability to reveal the dark and twisted side of everything. An example of this would be the glare that is shown in the shower with Rocky Giaziano; his eyes have this dark emptiness to them that keeps you captivated.

When I ponder the strengths and weaknesses of Kubrick’s work I would have to commend him on his keen eye for detail. Weakness in Kubrick’s work is a difficult one for me. I would have to say that the fact that he ended his photography career in Black and White and didn’t continue into the color film to me is the biggest weakness that Kubrick had.

When I view a Kubrick photo, I know immediately that it is one of his. Kubrick is able to capture facial expressions and shadows in the strangest of places. He was a man that could literally bring a photo to life. His photographs almost seem cinematic with some being so dynamic and dramatic they almost seem too good. Real everyday people captured in real everyday situations are what I find to be impressive. You ask yourself so many questions when you simply just look into the photo. You simply get lost in the moment at least I do.

Quotes by Stanley Kubrick

“If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed”

“I never learned anything at all in school and didn’t read a book for pleasure until I was 19 years old”

“However vast the darkness, we must find our own light”