Stanley Kubrick's unseen photography reveals early talent of legendary director

Before ‘A Clockwork Orange’, Stanley Kubrick made a living capturing life through a different lens

The images echo the surrealist qualities seen in his filmmaking (Photography by Stanley Kubrick)

Before becoming a critically acclaimed director responsible for Dr Strangelove and The Shining, Stanley Kubrick spent five years as a photographer for Look magazine, a now defunct US publication that captured everyday life.

Kubrick’s photography captures daily life in his native New York, ranging from a visit to the circus and the more outlandish Beaux Arts Ball in Philadelphia, with its bizarre and surreal shapes reminiscent of those seen in his filmmaking, to touchingly humanist portraits such as the “Shoeshine Boy” talking to a friend on the street and a picture of showgirl “Rosemary Williams”, who stands in glamorous contrast to her nondescript, messy apartment.

Kubrick completed more than 300 assignments for Look, most of which can be seen in Stanley Kubrick Photographs, Through a Different Lens, a new book featuring unseen images from the director’s five-year stint, written by photography critic Luc Sante, with contributions from Sean Corcoran and Donald Albrecht. The book coincides with an exhibition on Kubrick’s photography at the Museum of the City of New York.

“Turning his camera on his native city, Kubrick memorialised the celebrities and shoeshine boys in images that expressed the pathos of ordinary life – and pointed toward his future as one of the 20th century’s great artists,” says Albrecht.

‘Stanley Kubrick Photographs, Through a Different Lens’ is available now for £50 on Taschen’s website