There was a lovely celebration of Phil Stern’s birthday and the unveiling of many prints he donated to the Veterans Home of California a few weeks ago. The pictures and their captions tell you that story. But before you look through them I thought I’d give you a little context about the kind of man he is…
I met Phil Stern in 1978. He walked onto the set of Steven Spielberg’s “1941” and my first thought was, “Who is that old guy?” He was at least a generation older than the rest of us, the crew and actors but it soon became apparent that his “advanced” age notwithstanding, he was a consummate pro. Unflappable, observant, canny, funny and experienced, he just knew where to be, when to be and how to get the picture without making a fuss. So I got that he was good right away, but it took me a while longer to understand his pictures were so good precisely because he was older. Or rather that his pictures were so good because he had seen so much and made so many choices under so many conditions. He was … experienced. His pictures, magically made from the right place at the right time were the result of years watching how people gathered and acted, of knowing what they were likely to be feeling and always, always looking for the best way to show what was going on both physically and emotionally. Phil was an artist with a camera.
