BeforeProfit

Recently I came across this picture taken by Philippe Halsman, in 1948. I was amazed with the photographers ability to pull something like this off in 1948 where technology was a lot more limited than today. Reading about his thoughts behind this shot were equally as amazing.

note: cat lovers may not want to read on…haha

The photograph is Halsman’s homage both to the new atomic age (prompted by physicist’ then-recent announcement that all matter hangs in a constant state of suspension) and to Dalí’s surrealist masterpiece “Leda Atomica” (seen on the right, behind the cats, and unfinished at the time). It took six hours, 28 jumps, and a roomful of assistants throwing angry cats and buckets of water into the air to get the perfect exposure.

But before settling on the “Atomicus” we know today, Halsman rejected a number of other concepts for the shot. One was the idea of throwing milk instead of water, but that was abandoned for fear that viewers, fresh from the privations of World War II, would condemn it as a waste of milk. Another involved exploding a cat in order to capture it “in suspension,” though that arguably would have been a waste of cats.

Be sure to read and look at the other pictures
from the original article “13 Photographs that Changed the World”.