What makes an iconic photo? What is it about a photo that makes it stand out in our mind?
Is it a look? Is it the composition?
Even more, where does the talent lie, with the photographer or with the model? Or are they working in concert?
This all came about the other day with the sudden and recent death of Farrah Fawcett. I began to think what makes a photo 'iconic'? Could it be the relevancy of the image through time? Could it be that a photo has to have the same impact it had the day it was shot as it does today?
Well, if that is the case then that photo of Farrah had it in spades.
You know the one I'm talking about. The one with with Farrah sitting in that simple, red, one piece bathing suit, her head of long, full curls, languidly tossed back over her shoulders, wearing a smile that could easily outshine the stars.
That photo.
Immediately after her death it was one of the main photos of her that was repeatedly shown on television.
It is the quintessential photo of her. It is how everyone will remember her.
It was shot by photographer Bruce McBroom when she was only 29 years old. He was contacted by a guy from a poster company who told him that Farrah had said that she wanted him to hire Mr. McBroom to do her poster. She had previously hired two other photographers and didn't like the photos they took of her and now she wanted Mr McBroom to shoot them.
Mr McBroom agreed- the only caveat being that the guy from the poster company wanted it to be about Farrah's hair, she had to be smiling, she had to be in a bikini, and it had to be really, really, sexy.
Well, to start with, Farrah didn't have a bikini...
It was shot at the house she shared with her then husband, actor, Lee Majors. Farrah did her own hair and make-up.
The wardrobe came from her very own closet. They worked together, Mr.McBroom and Farrah did, to try to find the right look. The photographer suggesting different backgrounds, Farrah trying on varying pieces of swim wear. It took a very long time to get it right- all day in fact. In the photographers own words he was 'getting desperate'.
Finally he asked her if there was a piece in her house that she hadn't tried on yet and she said that she would go and look around. When she came out of the house in the red bathing suit she asked Mr. McBroom 'what do you think of this?'.
With one look he knew immediately this was the suit. And on his very last roll, in his very last frame, he knew he had the shot.
As for that famous backdrop, Mr. McBroom got the great idea to use an old blanket from his pick-up truck whose main usage was to hide the many holes in it's seat.
In the end it took many different factors to create this very special photo. Everything had to come together just right.
For instance, what if Farrah had found a bikini? What if it was a different color? What if it wasn't just the two of them at the shoot and she hadn't been the one to do her own hair and make-up? What if Mr. McBroom hadn't used the blanket from his truck?
As beautiful as Farrah was would the photo still stand out in our minds? Would millions of young boys still put that poster on their walls?
It's come to my attention that to capture an iconic photo one has to be a bit like an medieval alchemist: you have to put your faith in both what you can do and what the God's have put before you.
Sometimes it's not always just about talent...
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