Post by Remi on Oct 24, 2008 19:46:20 GMT -5
Dallas photographer's Paul Newman portrait picked as one of GQ's best
04:16 PM CDT on Friday, October 24, 2008
By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning News
mgranberry@dallasnews.com
The British version of GQ will soon be celebrating its 30th anniversary, so in honor of that accomplishment, the magazine is publishing what it considers 20 of its all-time best photographs, one of which was taken by Dallas photographer Laura Wilson. Ms. Wilson's is a black-and-white portrait of actor Paul Newman, who died last month at 83 from complications of lung cancer.
Ms. Wilson met Mr. Newman in 1997 in Long Beach, Calif., where he was co-owner of an auto racing team competing in the Long Beach Grand Prix. Most of all, she remembers "how dignified he was, how quiet, how unassuming, how completely calm and comfortable he was in that environment." She was there to photograph Mr. Newman not as a movie star but as a racecar owner and driver. That may have explained his comfort level.
For in "this rarified world of expertise," says Ms. Wilson, " nobody was disturbing or hassling him. For someone who was hassled most of his life as a movie star and very unattractively hassled, I now realize, because of our boys" – Ms. Wilson is the mother of Hollywood actors Andrew, Owen and Luke Wilson – "it must have been wonderful to be in this world where he wasn't the main focus. He wouldn't have people fawning over him. I doubt that he would have liked that."
The shoot, as a whole, took three days, and Ms. Wilson finally emerged with the photograph she wanted, a portrait taken on the final day. Mr. Newman even agreed to remove his trademark sunglasses. For a photographer, it felt like a victory.
04:16 PM CDT on Friday, October 24, 2008
By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning News
mgranberry@dallasnews.com
The British version of GQ will soon be celebrating its 30th anniversary, so in honor of that accomplishment, the magazine is publishing what it considers 20 of its all-time best photographs, one of which was taken by Dallas photographer Laura Wilson. Ms. Wilson's is a black-and-white portrait of actor Paul Newman, who died last month at 83 from complications of lung cancer.
Ms. Wilson met Mr. Newman in 1997 in Long Beach, Calif., where he was co-owner of an auto racing team competing in the Long Beach Grand Prix. Most of all, she remembers "how dignified he was, how quiet, how unassuming, how completely calm and comfortable he was in that environment." She was there to photograph Mr. Newman not as a movie star but as a racecar owner and driver. That may have explained his comfort level.
For in "this rarified world of expertise," says Ms. Wilson, " nobody was disturbing or hassling him. For someone who was hassled most of his life as a movie star and very unattractively hassled, I now realize, because of our boys" – Ms. Wilson is the mother of Hollywood actors Andrew, Owen and Luke Wilson – "it must have been wonderful to be in this world where he wasn't the main focus. He wouldn't have people fawning over him. I doubt that he would have liked that."
The shoot, as a whole, took three days, and Ms. Wilson finally emerged with the photograph she wanted, a portrait taken on the final day. Mr. Newman even agreed to remove his trademark sunglasses. For a photographer, it felt like a victory.
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