I never really watched much TV – and never watched prime TV. In the mid 90’s I moved to Santa Monica from NY. It was the height of network prime time TV – and I got called to shoot all these shows I had never seen. Entertainment Weekly was just starting up and they hired me to shoot their entire Fall TV Preview section. It was funny meeting all these characters and getting to play with a combo of their on screen on an off screen personas mashed up. My goal was always to create a stage the actors and actresses could play on. I never shot on the set. That was holy ground. My pictures were on another stage. They were first run reruns.
The first year for Entertainment Weekly I got an old 50’s open bed truck and dressed it for each show. For Lois and Clark we had a hula hoop for Superman to jump through. For Frazier we had Kelsey fixing a flat tire and John Mahoney up in the flatbed on his favorite chair. Then there was Seinfeld. I shot the cast of Seinfeld a lot. From promotion for the show, to lots of editorial shoots – to the last ad for the show that featured just their feet.
Most of these images have never been seen – even by me! In the past months I dove into my archive of film from the 90’s for the first time. Eighty file drawers packed with film were stored in Pittsburgh all these years. I brought 3 drawers of film to Boulder last fall and started seeing what was there. I had discovered what bound all these pictures together. I had this feeling of joy when I was growing up. I now see these images as trying to recreate those feelings with these characters. My work is mostly about having fun. Don’t take it too seriously!
George Lange
GEORGE LANGE is a world renowned photographer who has been taking picture since the age of 7 when his parents gave him his first camera. He has taken pictures almost everyday since – shooting celebrities, presidents, poets and workers with every colored collar for almost every major publication in the country. He has worked developing brand libraries of imagery for many corporations including: IBM, HP, and Cardinal Health. He shot the advertising campaigns for most of the TLC shows including: Honey Boo Boo, Cake Boss, and 19 Kids and Counting and took the only posed picture of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates together. George was the first Artist in Residence with Creative Shop at Instagram – a position created for him and inspired by the ideas in his book, “The Unforgettable Photograph”. He moved from the East Coast to Boulder six years ago with his wife Stephanie and his two boys, Jackson and Asher.
George’s favorite photograph ever is the one he is about to take.
George Lange : First Run Reruns – Photographs from ’90’s TV shows
Month of Photography at the Dairy
Telling stories behind, through and in front of the camera
The Dairy Arts Center
March 7-April 14, 2019
2590 Walnut Street (26th & Walnut)
Boulder, Colorado 80302
