Lillian Bassman

As much as I love vintage fashion itself, I think the photography behind it is, sometimes, even more beautiful and eye-catching to the viewer.  The way photographers captured the sharp lines of dresses, the wide angles of hats, and the slender curves of women against scenery of the age really draws one back into a time of classic elegance.

I recently stumbled across the works of Lillian Bassman, a fashion photographer for Harper's Bazaar in the 40s through the 60s.

Her use of high contrast between the black and white, the placement of the subject, and the almost glowing auras of her stand ins give her pictures an angel-esque feeling that could almost be a sketch transfer verses film itself.

During her almost twenty years of fashion photography, she captured many subjects and was considered one of the last great women in fashion photography, until she decided to pursue her own, private work, and actually threw out the majority of her negatives and originals.  Twenty years later, a bag of forgotten work was found and all was brought to life again.

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Celebrating the Female Form

Being a woman, I highly appreciate the female form and all we must do to maintain it.  In life drawing in college, I would have to draw myself naked and put it on display for the whole class, all male except me and another girl, to critique.  I had to not only recognize, but draw and point out, any imperfections I had.  Trust me, doing that is a very humbling experience and makes you realize how truly amazing the human form is.

Though, like any other human being, I have my up and down days about my weight, I'm happy with how I look and I'm comfortable in the skin I'm in.  I love being sexy and buying cute things, and, as the saying goes, "If you've got it, flaunt it." To a certain extent, at least.

So, it's no surprise, that I'm generally drawn towards pin-up photography and ruthless photos of women being deviant.  When you walk into my house, there's a framed picture of a naked woman's bust from a Paris photography exhibit.  There was a half-naked photo of Keira Knightley in my old apartment's my bathroom.

If you follow Ollie Otson on Facebook, you'll see I post a vintage/vintage inspired photograph a day from the file of photos I have on my computer (which is why you, also, don't see a link back to the original source on any of these, and for that I do apologize).  I try to keep them pretty tame, but I decided to post some of my favorite photos here that you probably won't see on our Facebook.  They're all sexy in their own way while still leaving enough to be desired, the way it should be.

Again, sorry there are no sources to the original photo links, but these pulled from the archives of my computer.

Teams

I always find team photos to be a little funny.  It's probably just the fact that everyone is very serious, sitting there in their uniforms, holding the ball or club of choice for the certain activity, as if we couldn't tell that bathers mean they're on a rowing team or heavy padding means it's football.

Either way, I always love looking at old team photos and comparing the fashions of then to now.  And the lack of padding and protective equipment.  Have you ever seen what hockey players used to wear?! It's no wonder they didn't have any of their front teeth and generally a crooked nose to match.

Class photos have the same effect on me, too, so don't think it's because I was picked last in gym class or something (which I never was, by the way).

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1900s Detroit

I grew up in Michigan, about 30 minutes outside of Detroit.  Though I may tease when it's snowing there and 60 degrees here, and I would never move back there, Michigan is still my hometown and place I'm fine being from.

However, in recent years, the auto industry and other unions have given the state a beating.  Factories have shut down, work has fallen, and the unemployment rate has risen.  Blame it on bad mayors and management or whatever you please, but the City of Detroit is one that has never been able to bounce back on it's feet.

Chicago, New York, and even Savannah, have all seen hardships and been able to rebuild themselves, yet Detroit has always fallen back into disrepair and despair.

My mom used to tell stories of how she'd go down to Tiger Stadium to watch the Tigers play baseball, taking the bus there and back.  Then, she talks of race riots and the whole city going up in flames and pillage, and how, after that, she wasn't allowed to go anywhere near the city.

I remember going there for the Auto Show or concerts and always being schooled by graffiti on inappropriate things, but it was hard not to miss -- it was everywhere.  Walking around and going to the Ren Center with my dad, we'd always encounter at least a handful of homeless people begging for change, which always put me off guard, as suburbia doesn't warrant much for homeless.

It was as if the city had just given up completely.

It's hard to look at the pictures above, see the hustle and bustle and think, "Wow, Detroit used to be the place in Michigan to shop and visit."

Nowadays, they are trying to give the city some life.  Around the Fox Theatre, they've put gift shops, restaurants, and made it nice for people to walk around.  People from the suburbs who would otherwise be afraid to go in the area at any time of day, can walk around in a well-lit area after their play is finished to their car.  Quicken Loans has set up offices in the city and numerous, luxury lofts have been added to the area, as well as a little strip of coffee shops and restaurants for employees to go to.

It's small strides, and it will take probably my whole lifespan, if not more time, to make the area truly agreeable to all and to keep it that way, but the effort is what's important at this time.

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New York, New York

When I was in second grade, I marched up to my mom and declared I was moving to New York when I turned 18, and she couldn't stop me.  She laughed, and for the next ten years basically continued to do so until I actually boarded the plan and left home.

I didn't end up in New York City, but Savannah, Georgia, instead, but New York still fascinates me.

Having visited, I love the architecture and the busyness of the people in the streets.  I love cities, no matter how chaotic they are, and who couldn't help but be mesmerized by those skyscrapers?  Plus, you have a maze of bridges and roads, with interesting people rat-racing through them.

Old photography really intrigues me.  I love looking at old prints of Savannah and comparing them to what is there now, and doing that with these prints of NYC is no different.  Look at Coney Island as it's being built.  Time's Square back in the day.  The bridges before they were connecting anything.  It's amazing.

I find it refreshing to look back and see the past.  If we don't remember it, we can't relive it and appreciate where we are now.

More photos available here.

Kodachromes of Women in the Workplace

I have a sister, not a brother, which meant that, while growing up, if anything needed to be done around the house, we had to help my dad do it.  He was a carpenter by trade, so we were always helping with the numerous home improvement projects around the house or we would take nails and pieces of scrap wood while he was building something and put them together to create little works of art.  I remember I once made a plane-looking thing, and he helped my put a working propeller on it.  I was beyond happy.

Because of this upbringing, I am fiercely independent (and slightly pigheaded when it comes to asking for help), and can do basically anything when it comes to renovations.  Paint, yeah, no problem.  Hang drywall, sure, why not?  Re-tile a floor or put down lamenent, of course!  Gardening, mowing the lawn, cleaning up this, shining up that, we did it all in terms of construction.

Looking at these photos, I think of how grateful I am that these women paved the way for me to be able to do these things and not be seen as a "wild woman."  As much as I love wearing dresses and makeup, I like to feel useful and have no time to wait around for a "man" to change my lightbulbs.  I'm sure these women felt the same way, even if they were seen as "rebels" of their time.

See more of the photo collection here.