Paul Outerbridge, Jr. was an American photographer, and he is quite famous for the early adoption and experiments in color photography. Outerbridge introduced sensibility of fine art to the black and white photographs he made for commercial purposes. His first achieved success in the 1920s by applying an innovative modernist aesthetic to advertising photography. During the 1930s he perfected his technique with the complex tri-color carbro process, earning his reputation as a pioneer in color photography. He worked for magazines such as Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, McCall’s and so on.
Paul Outerbridge made lots of abstract still life photos throughout his career. It is very easy to tell from his still life pictures that he was a perfectionist. As he is not only spending large amounts of time sketching and making fine adjustments to the lighting and design of the photo to create specific textures and tones, but also using only the finest platinum paper for his prints. Later on, the changing of times and diminished prosperity, however, triggered a shift in Outerbridge’s photo style.
Gradually, contrast had played a huge role in his black and white photo. While some areas may be in a total darkness, which is clear that the contrast, lights, and darks were all done intentionally. The lighting set up of most of his works isn’t that harsh, but just enough to create the effect he wanted. What’ more, Outerbridge used many diagonals framing method within his pictures in order to create the abstract and natural effects.
For his color photos, I have to say that most of them really gives me the strong retro feeling of film, which pleased my eyes a lot. All the color he is using in his pictures look very harmonious and rich, with fine gradation in tones and a high level of detail in the shadows. It is all benefits from his various color processes, The carbro color process allowed Outerbridge to naturalistically reproduce subtle skin tone variations in his nudes—something that had not been done before.