If the guy wasn't already talented enough, now Brad Pitt is showing off his ability to shoot photos of his gorgeous "wife" and family using black and white film. The photos are quite spectacular and give us all an interesting insight into his life behind closed doors. You will want to see these.
The photos originally went public in the November 2008 issue of W Magazine. Surprisingly though I had not see them till they recently surfaced again on Reddit. According to Lomography.com "W’s Creative Director Dennis Freedman wanted a different perspective for their next feature of Angelina Jolie, revealing an angle yet unseen of one of the most photographed women in the world. The answer couldn’t have been more obvious and ambitious. “I was surprised that Brad accepted the challenge,” said Freedman as Brad Pitt showed interest and enthusiasm in shooting the portraits himself."
To produce the photos for the assignment from W Magazine, Pitt requested rolls of Kodak Tech Pan - a film that had been discontinued back in 2004. The magazine's photo editor however located 40 rolls of the film to send to Pitt to use as requested. Tech Pan was popular with photographers in the fashion industry for it's high contrast black and white results.
While looking over the images I was highly impressed with Pitt's ability to capture images that went far beyond just snapshots around the house. The lighting is beautiful in many of the shots and the composition is fantastic. His subject is of course absolutely stunning and those lips, wow! But who knew that Pitt had such a great eye for capturing photos.
Surprisingly, I also really enjoyed all the grain in the images. I realize this will be something some might complain about in the images, but I actually really found it almost refreshing and reminded me of my days shooting high ISO black and white film in school.
I was glad these images have resurfaced since I missed them on the first go around back in 2008. So what do you think about them? I for one am a bit perturbed that here all this time I thought I had Pitt beat in at least one area (photography) and come to find out now that he is actually quite the contender to beat me there as well. You got my respect Pitt. Now I just need to make sure my wife doesn't see these photos.
[Via Reddit, Via Lomography]
Well, it has to be hard NOT to take an interesting shot of Angelina.
Methinks you are underestimating yourself, Trevor.
Outstanding work.
I'm not saying, am just saying that all of these are shot with a Leica.
i must be missing something.
Other than it being pics of the babe named jolie, the pics look grainie and exposed really crappy.
grain is the new hipster way to make pics.
These are from 2008, waaaay before hipster grain was en vouge. Was Brad Pitt the original hipster?
He was a hipster before it was cool.
Being a hipster is not cool.
Not, you're right -But come on, realistically everyone knows categorizing people by their lifestyle and stylistic choices are what's REALLY cool! (this is sarcasm by the way, incase the capital letters didn't sell that properly)
grain is the hipster way because despite their desperation to be 'different', they don't actually know how to use film cameras.
Ever heard of Man Ray?
Grainy? Seriously? Do you not know what shooting on film is like? It's FULL of grain unless you're shooting 50iso or lower! That's why there's grain!
you obviously dont know photography..these are stunning!
emmm ok
Would these be remarkable if not for the fame of the subject?
Well, yes. Because Angelina simply is stunning.
Really. So you say that people regularly gawk over random pictures of stunning women? The ONLY reason we see these are because of the fame of the subject.
Its like eating a hamburger at Brad Pitts house. Even if it tastes like crap, Brad Pitt made it so we overlook that it was overcooked.
he really puts love into those cheeseburgers
Well sure. Pictures like these count as a super art here on Fstoppers - because they for sure aren't photoshopped in any way
Derp derp derp derp Brad Pitt
Derp derp derp derp Angelina Jolie
Derp Derp Derp DERP I miss grainy film from high school.
TL DR.
Why do you even visit this website?
He's a troll, don't feed him. Let's watch how he starve.
He is right though
Aw, I missed it, what did his comment say? I love to chime in when people say ridiculous things!
What is derp?
derp - noun. A delicious blend of 11 herbs and spices, mixed with a large dose of douchebaggery.
I'm gonna guess the magazine cropped the photos
Orlando Bloom did this too recently and much better.
Are you kidding me!? With the exception of ONE of the 13 images I saw, Orlando doesn't hold a candle to Brad. A beautiful background and a posed subject does not make a great photo. At the very least Miranda looked so cheesy in most of them whereas Angelina at least appeared to be caught in the moments of living her life (in most of them). There was nothing special about the exposure or composition (in some cases both were poorly done imo) and just nothing special about any of the photos at all. As much as I like Orlando, this is definitely not his thing. I would hang photos Brad took (even if they weren't of Angelina).
So a very rich and talented actor that is around photographic and film people day in and day out knows how to take photos? Why is that news? All it takes is some time with a tutor and a fancy camera (oh look a leica m9) and anyone with money can be a good photographer. Honestly the way its made out, its like he invented the process or something. I'd have been a little more impressed if he's have used a view camera or a studio camera and done all the processing and printing himself.
wow. Anyone with time, money and a camera can make it? really?
And why would it have been more impressive with another camera... the camera is JUST a fucking tool. Like the film, and the post process in the dark room, etc... a tool to explain what HE can see of his wife.
Yes they would be just as amazing if it was your wife in them. don't hate because you can't take pciture THAT good of your wife.
Completely agree. No one should find it surprising that someone who's job it is to make pictures look good can make good pictures.
That's like saying someone who works the sidelines on an NFL team as a water boy should be as fast and powerful as an even the average player on the roster because they are around them all season?! You are kidding right?
The camera is not even a leica m9. You totally fail.
You're a damn idiot.
All I know is if I took these (or any non celebrity photographer for that matter) I'd be blasted for too much grain, too much contrast (too much like the photos I took in college).....and I'm not impressed with the composition on most of them. The camera he used isn't important as any film camera could have gotten these shots, and any digital camera with the right post work. And like some said, "It's hard not to take an interesting shot of Angelina."
Tobias, you might be true. But these shots are amazing, knowing your light/ getting your subject in that light. Matters more than just some interesting shots of Angelina.
Haters going to hate , but the man did a great job.
Its not hard to take a great photo of a beautiful woman.
a decent photo perhaps, but to make great photography is hard regardless of the model's appearance.
These are cool shots, but off course, An interesting subject makes for an interesting image, access to a unique model is also necessary to capture unique situations of an already hard to find and unique person (being the husband I'd say he had good access), also the trust of the model to the photographer makes a difference, these circumstances would make any decent photographer with some unique images IMO, I like them dough, I like Jolie too :-)
Oh, these are crap.
Not a hater, but why are these so impressive?
They're not super impressive but to start with, he doesn't call himself a photographer, he likely only has a working knowledge of photography but combine that with the fact that she's being photographed not by a stranger, but by someone who actually has a close relationship with her, the very nature of the photos should present a different side of her (in theory). That being said, some of them are what I would consider throw away photos, however I do think that a couple of them are cool because they challenge the conventions of photography and in that way they become "art(istic)". On the whole, I dig them.
Bah, overrated.
I see 5 really good photos here. Thanks for posting. It's nice to know who in the entertainment industry dabbles in photography. I had no idea that Brad or Orlando were into photography.
i dig em.
different people have different perceptions in how they see photography. Please learn how to respect and judge it constructively. Overall, i think this is a very good series especially the expressions.
Totally agreed. I'd like to say this to some of the commenters here: If grain and contrast bother you and yet you don't see the beauty of A.J.'s expressions, I somehow feel you've lost being passionate about photography.
alot of bitter old timers in this thread..i love it! alot of elitist jerkoffs bitching and complaining. how many of us turned in something this good as our first assignment?