Round here we celebrate photographs. While they sometimes tell stories of love and laughter, they also sometimes tell stories of sadness, horror, or otherwise unsavory-ness. These mugshots of some of the most famous rock stars the world has ever known fall somewhere in between. Check out the confluence of stoicism, ego, and genius in this shot of Frank Sinatra (other greats from Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Sid Vicious, David Bowie, Axl Rose and a dozen others after the jump…]
These images clearly have cultural value. Are these portraits? Where does the mugshot fit along this spectrum?
So I ask you again. Are these portraits?
[and if, like me, you can’t get enough of these, head on over to HowToBeARetronaut to see Janis Joplin, Bill Gates, Jane Fonda, Kurt Cobain, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, and about a dozen others. Thanks FlavorPill for the tip.]
You are my breathing in, I be in possession of hardly any blogs and very now and then scurry made known starting send . “Analyzing indulge is comparable dissecting a frog. Hardly any inhabitants are engrossed and the frog dies of it.” by E. B. White.
Love Frank Sinatra. I remember this mug shot, but not the side mug shot.
yes this images are killer and for sure they don’t look like this anymore.
My question is who owns the rights to these images. As I have seen a lot of people using these images for artwork, t shirts etc.
Portraits fo sho. Regardless of the “artistic” quality what an excellent capture in time of who and what they were at that time in their life. Cliche as it may sound, “Art is in the eye of the beholder.” I would LOVE to hang any one of these “portraits” or the whole series in my coffee house. I don’t believe photographs taken by government officials for government purposes can be copyrighted. (FYI, same applies to military photographs) Furthermore, how often do all of us set out to capture an image of life and our artistic perception, only to fail, and yet some of our mistakes and accidents have become our best works of art.
I checked out the HowToBeARetronaut website and couldn’t help but notice two things. Bill Gates is ALWAYS smiling and it seems as though James Brown is saying, “WOW, I feel good.”
Glass Plate Criminals – PHENOMENAL piece of history. Much more artistic flair than one would find today. Especially the choice to photograph Frederick Edward Davies in front of the toilettes! This whole series really seams to romanticize criminal life or even life on the streets.
http://anthonylukephotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/vintage-glass-plate-negative-mugshots.html
I don’t believe these are portraits. I feel a portrait is as much about the photographer as it is the subject. The person who photographed these celebrities was not shooting these photos with the intention of capturing an specific emotion or feeling. They were shooting these photos because it was a part of the process. Yes, these photos captured a lot of emotions, but that was not the subject or the photographers intention.