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| Abercrombie & Fitch Co. people | |
|---|---|
| Bruce Weber | |
| Born | March 29, 1946 |
| Affiliation | Official photographer |
| Years Active | 1970s – present |
| Present Influence | Photographs every seasonal marketing campaign |
| Previous Profession | photographer for Ralph Lauren Calvin Klein Bloomingdales |
Bruce Weber (born March 29, 1946 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania) is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, Gianni Versace, and Ralph Lauren, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone magazines.
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Biography
Weber's fashion photography first appeared in the late 1970s in GQ magazine, where he had frequent cover photos. Nan Bush, his longtime companion and agent, was able to secure a contract with Federated Department Stores to shoot the 1978 Bloomingdales mail catalog. He came to the attention of the general public in the late 1980s and early 1990s with his advertising images for Calvin Klein. His straightforward black and white shots, featuring an unclothed heterosexual couple on a swing facing each other, two clothed men in bed, and model Marcus Schenkenberg barely holding jeans in front of himself in a shower, catapulted him into the national spotlight. His photograph of Calvin Klein of Olympic athlete Tom Hintnaus in white briefs is an iconic image. He photographed the winter 2006 Ralph Lauren Collection.
After doing photo shoots for and of famous individuals (many of whom were featured in Andy Warhol's Interview magazine), Bruce entered the realm of filmmaking, making short films of teenage boxers (Broken Noses), jazz trumpeter Chet Baker (Let's Get Lost), his beloved pet dogs, and later, a longer film entitled Chop Suey.
Weber's photographs are occasionally in color, however most are in black and white or toned shades. They are gathered in limited edition print books, including A House is Not a Home and Bear Pond, an early work which featured, among other models, Eric Nies from MTV's The Real World series.
Weber began collaborating with crooner Chris Isaak in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he photographed Isaak for his second album, Chris Isaak. In 1988, he photographed a shirtless Isaak in bed for a fashion spread in Rolling Stone. Isaak appeared in Weber's 1988 documentary about Jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, Let's Get Lost. He also directed Isaak's music video for "Blue Spanish Sky".
He photographed Harry Connick, Jr. for his 1991 album Blue Light, Red Light.
In 1993, he photographed singer-songwriter Jackson Browne for his 1993 album I'm Alive.
He is married to Nan Bush, with whom he sometimes collaborates.
Music video work
In 1988, Weber was approached by British pop duo Pet Shop Boys, who were in New York City to work with Liza Minnelli for her album Results. The Pet Shop Boys wanted Weber to do a video for their forthcoming single, "Domino Dancing", from their album Introspective. Weber was interested, but too busy with his current film, a documentary about Chet Baker, to accept.
Two years would pass before another opportunity for such a collaboration would present itself. By 1990, Pet Shop Boys had a new album, Behaviour, and were releasing "Being Boring" as a single. Weber took the project and directed a video, which would be both acclaimed and controversial. Weber's idea was to film a wild party with a very diverse group of people. Filmed in one day by two film crews in a house on Long Island, it was the most expensive Pet Shop Boys video at the time, costing roughly $225,000. Though no genitals or female nipples were shown, the male and female nudity sufficed to prevent the video from being played on MTV in the United States.
However, the Pet Shop Boys enjoyed the video immensely, and worked with Weber again in 1996, this time for a video for "Se a vida é", a song from their Latin-influenced album Bilingual. This project was shot at Wet 'n' Wild, a water park near Orlando, Florida.
In 2002, Weber again directed a Pet Shop Boys video, for the song "I Get Along" from the album Release. Weber's concept was to film one of his photo shoots on location at his own Little Bear studio in New York City. The video has a documentary feel, showing the models, as well as the Pet Shop Boys themselves, eating lunch and getting ready before the shoot. The DVD version of the video includes a short film afterward featuring the song "E-mail", which was also Weber's idea.
Weber also directed Chris Isaak's music video "Blue Spanish Sky".
Fashion label
Weber created the fashion label Weberbilt in 2003; his first line, "eat, swim, sex, sleep", went on sale in boutiques in London and Miami in 2004.[citation needed]
Videography
Films
- Beauty Brothers (1987, 12:26 min, b&w/color)
- Broken Noses (1987, 75 min, b&w/color)
- Let's Get Lost (1988, 1:59:25 min, b&w)
- Backyard Movie (1991, 8:55 min, b&w)
- Gentle Giants (1994, 14:35 min, b&w/color)
- The Teddy Boys of the Edwardian Drape Society (1996, 3:45 min, b&w)
- Chop Suey (2000, 94 min, b&w/color)
- A Letter to True (2004, 78 min, b&w/color)
- Wine and Cupcakes (2007, 12:10 min, color)
Music videos
- Pet Shop Boys: "Being Boring" (1990)
- Chris Isaak: "Blue Spanish Sky" (1991)
- Pet Shop Boys: "Se a vida é (That’s the way life is)" (1996)
- Pet Shop Boys: "I Get Along" (2002)
External links
- Official site
- Bruce Weber at the Internet Movie Database
- "Bruce Weber". Photography. Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/photographerframe.php?photographerid=ph057.
- Wine And Cupcakes - a 2007 short film by Bruce Weber.
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