Bob Willoughby : The Man Who Captured Hollywood Cool

A picture paints a thousand words, a photo too – sometimes more. So what can I say that the photos that follow don’t already say themselves? Well, I suppose I could start by giving you a bit of background information instead of just throwing photos at your face. I realise that you’ve just clicked on a link and will be scrolling through these photos at your leisure, but if I could, I surely would. I’d throw these photos right in your face over and over again, laughing manically before bursting into tears. WHY WON’T YOU LOVE ME!?

Anyway, Bob Willoughby was the guy when it came to Hollywood photography back in the day. He’s the chap credited with bringing a sense of candid, documentary photojournalism to Hollywood. You see, before our boy Bob came to town, photos of the brightest stars on the silver screen were very much a staged affair. However, Willoughby honed the art of capturing these stars with their guards down, bringing a whole new layer to how these icons were perceived. He had multiple, and innovative, ways of doing this from the simple to the slightly more complicated; wandering around set snapping on the fly, to pretending to be a member of the crew and operating remote controlled cameras.

The results were quite brilliant, and helped bring a more human quality to these demigods but all the while capturing exactly why they were so revered – but more so, because they were real and not just unobtainable ideals. This garnered Bob a lot of respect in his field, but also from the stars he photographed, many would make him their go-to photographer (The Rat Pack, for example) and others became firm friends of his (Audrey Hepburn). Anyhow, his work is to be exhibited in London’s Beetles + Huxley at the end of this month for a run.

Here’s a few to whet the appetite though, because who doesn’t love looking at awesome photos of old school Hollywood cool from time to time?

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

bob willoughby photography

 

But wait! There’s more! Page two’s a screamer!

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