Phil Stern, 95, died on December 13^th He was said to have congestive heart failure and emphysema – one of the most common lung diseases and was being hospitalized for these conditions. Phil Stern was a man who captured many memorable photographs of people including the one presented to the right and photos of war.

World War II to be exact , “His pictures of the invasion and its aftermath remain among the most outstanding documents in the annals of combat photography in any war, before or since,” author and journalist Herbert Mitgang wrote in “Phil Stern: A Life’s Work,” a 2003 collection of Stern photos.

War was where Stern was first noticed, the way he caught the raw aftermath and the intensity of the situation was breath taking, but when the war was over he had to find something new. He then slowly became noticed for his photographs of celebrities’ caught off-guard, unlike the fake smiles and fake emotions shown in magazines that everyone looks at day to day. He caught true emotion, like photographs that captured an important memory, such as the photo of James Dean peering over the neck of his sweater with his messy hair and sulking eyes. This photo alone captured the ‘Bad boy’ era as some would say.  “I was never interested in the glamour,” Mr. Stern told Entertainment Weekly in 1993. “I was interested in the tears and agony behind it.”

“You know what it (the perfect photograph) is, but you just can’t get it,” Stern states to Discover Hollywood in 1999, “still you keep searching. I still have not found it”

FSA Connection Questions

1. In the article, the author is trying to inform you of?
2. In the piece, the word sulking mean what?
3. What is the main idea?
4. What two sentences best summarize this piece?
5. What is the connotation of the words caught off guard in the story?