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Friday, January 15, 2010

DENNIS STOCK (Who Took That Photo of James Dean Walking Down the Street in New York)

We're linking to the Los Angeles Times news article, from yesterday, January 14, 2009, which starts on today's front page and goes into the Obituaries about DENNIS STOCK, who took that great photo of James Dean in 1954, walking in Times Square in New York City..."

"Stock didn't know Dean was an actor until he'd finished talking to him." It wasn't apparent in his appearance," he told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2005. "He was not a neat dresser per se. He looked tired, but he was pleasant and interesting."Stock went with Dean to a sneak preview of "East of Eden" in Santa Monica, but the actor stayed outside with his motorcycle while Stock watched the movie. Overwhelmed by Dean's performance, Stock proposed doing a "visual biography" on Dean. "I knew this guy would take off," he recalled. The famous Times Square photo of Dean was just part of Stock's photo essay that appeared in Life magazine in 1955..." Dennis McLellan reporting, January 14, 2010

I met and talked to Dennis briefly while out with my friend who had been James Dean's friend, Christine White

2 comments:

  1. I had the privilege to study Photography with Dennis in Arles France the summer of 1978. His passion for Photography was installed in me and has served my making photographs for many years. I brought his passion and love of art into my classroom when I taught Photography at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

    He was a great man and one hell of a photographer. He will be greatly missed. Good-bye my friend.

    P Myers

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  2. Hello Peter! Thanks for your comment. I think Denis' photograph of James Dean told a whole story and would have been considered a great photo even if James Dean had not been famous. A year or so after Jimmy's death, I was also photographed walked down that street, but not by Stock! Wes

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