The Artists Center in Palm Desert is letting photography take center stage.
Running concurrently from Wednesday, March 11, through Sunday, April 5, the Artists Council is presenting Desert Rocks, featuring photos by award-winning photographers Jimmy Steinfeldt and Harry Langdon, along with Through the Lens, with 115 photographs by Artists Council members.
“It’s a show within a show, which makes it more exciting,” said Ulrike Maria, board chair of the Artists Council. “We decided to make it special this year by including legendary music and celebrity photographers Harry Langdon and Jimmy Steinfeldt.”
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Langdon has a client list including Cher, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Serena Williams, Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, Richard Burton, Diana Ross, Jane Fonda, Neil Diamond, Brian Wilson, Joan Rivers, Sophia Loren, Boy George, Marie Osmond, Steve Martin, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Janet Jackson, plus doctors, authors and behind-the-scenes music executives.
“The best picture for me is one in which the person lets you see a bit of his or her spirit,” Langdon said. “It gives the picture a different edge.”
This knowledge came to him when he was 7 years old.
“I traveled to Arizona with my parents, taking photos of landscapes and these charming towns,” he said. “In one town, Native Americans were standing out in storefronts, and when they saw the tourists walk through with their cameras, they grabbed the children and ran around the corner. I asked my mom and dad, ‘Why were they hiding?’ ‘They believe you were stealing their soul through the camera.’”
It was a profound realization for Langdon—the idea that everyone he photographs has a spirit.
“There’s a human being who walks in the door; it may be George Clooney, or Julio Iglesias or somebody, and I get the feeling for their spirit,” he said. “I know that it might sound kind of corny.”
Because of celebrities’ distrust of paparazzi, cameras are not always welcome, Langdon said—and some of them come with outsized egos. He told a story about photographing Richard Burton while the legendary actor was performing in Camelot. While Broadway executives arrived on time, Burton did not.
“Burton booked at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and then 2 o’clock came, and Richard hadn’t shown up,” Langdon said. “Then we heard this banging and kicking at our front door of our big studio, and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s Richard. Oh, no, now I’m going to deal with an angry dude who I’ve never met.’ So I got to the door; he had this slick English accent, (and he) barged in and started yelling at these two men. He said, ‘You bastards didn’t have the courtesy of sending me a limousine to bring me here!’
“I rushed over. I gripped his hand, which was trembling with anger. He was so pissed. I tried to swish him away from the two guys who were spending a lot of money on him, and I dragged Richard into the dressing room. And I said, ‘Richard, we have to do a good photo session today.’ I kind of reminded him of why he was here, and then all of a sudden, he calmed down. His face went from red to a normal color.”
Frank Sinatra could also be moody, but he and Langdon were close and respected each other.
“Sinatra had some dark people who were surrounding him,” he said. “He would have security guards at photo sessions, and … the guards were watching me to see if I’d get out of hand, and some were watching my crew behind me. My assistant was surprised to see that one had an Uzi tucked under his belt.”
Why the security? “Sinatra would get threats, and not everybody liked him.”
Langdon—the only child of the late vaudeville and silent-screen comedian Harry Langdon Sr.—said he has always been on a mission to capture images of these legends and leave a record of them behind.
“It was a real honor for me to take pictures of these people,” he said.
Now 91 years old and still working, you can often find Langdon bicycling around La Quinta Cove or talking to his friend, photographer, guitarist and songwriter, Jimmy Steinfeldt, who lives nearby.
Steinfeldt has photographed icons including Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Prince, Miles Davis, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan and Radiohead. In 1998 and 2007, industry players named him Photographer of the Year at the Los Angeles Music Awards. His photographs have appeared in many publications, including Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, Spin and Time magazine. His famous 1997 photo of Radiohead will be on display at the exhibit.
“It’s kind of cool looking back knowing that I photographed them,” he said.
Born in Minneapolis, Steinfeldt graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management from San Diego State University. After college, he traveled across the country armed with his first real camera—a $100 Minolta.
On that trip, he realized that he had an eye for composition. “It was fun and I was pretty good at it,” he said.
Stevie Nicks offered him a breakthrough. He used a Kodak that had just come out with a special film that was designed to shoot in low light, which made a big difference.
“I was standing in my seat taking pictures,” he said, “When I got the film back, there were a few that were great. The experience was fun and exciting. Then I learned how to adjust my camera to shoot a moving musician, and I just got better and better.”
He said his best experience was photographing Stevie Ray Vaughan, who is considered one of the best guitarists of all time. He died in a helicopter crash in 1990, at 35 years old.
“He was one of the nicest guys I ever met and one of the greatest guitar players ever,” he said. “He posed patiently for me while I took several portraits that turned out so well that my guitar hero, Joe Walsh, bought a print from me.”
The self-taught photographer cites the great fashion photographer Richard Avedon and cinematographer Karl Freund as his inspirations. He said he encountered a lot of drugs in rock ’n’ roll, but they never interested him.
“I love a good cocktail. A martini works, but that’s about the extent of my imbibing,” he said.
Steinfeldt moved to the desert three years ago, after 25 years in Los Angeles, wanting to decompress.
“A number of my friends moved to the Coachella Valley and were happy with their moves,” he said. “I had vacationed here over the years and was familiar and comfortable with it. I’ve been photographing entertainers—musicians, especially—my whole career, and the desert is filled with ‘my people.’”
Through the Lens, which includes the Desert Rocksphotos by Jimmy Steinfeldt and Harry Langdon, will be on display from Wednesday, March 11, through Sunday, April 5, at the Artists Center, at 72567 Highway 111, in Palm Desert. The opening reception will take place from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, March 12. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.artistscouncil.com.
Great Article ! Definitely worth going to.
Great peek into the lives of the artists and their relationships with the subjects of their work.
I really connected with this article – capturing the spirit of each person in a photo is no small thing, and it came through so clearly!