Alastair Moore wrote:so where start better than HCB and AA.
That's funny Alastair,
We all have AA and HC-B books and it is probably as good a place to start as any. But after decades of involvement I am firmly entrenched in my belief that they are two of the greatest arseholes that ever drew breath. Particularly Adams. The one breath of fresh air with HC-B is his portraiture; it provides a very different interaction with the rich and famous than we will encounter elsewhere.
HC-B was an independently wealthy man and mixed in the society of the glitterati. Photographic portraits of the high flyers of the era abound shot by all manner of folk but Henri had a different encounter with them than anybody else. All the portraitists that shot these folk, even the most revered portraitists such as Newman & co, were jobbing photographers commissioned by publications to go and do their schtick with this one or that one. Friendship may have ensued, but the sessions were commercial with a distinct brief and a distinct 'style' forming a barrier between snapper and sitter. With HC-B it was a meeting of mates, buddies, or whatever the Froggie equivalent may be. The portraits are far more open and honest depictions — personal encounters as opposed to time-constrained fulfilment of meeting clients' expectations. Check out the HC-B portraits and be surprised.
Conversely, the best of Adams' oeuvre, in my opinion, his commercial work. Sadly, thanks to Turnage, his commercial work is seldom, if ever, seen. In one of the Aperture volumes that arrived yesterday there is a glorious industrial site photograph of Adams.