Peter Gowland
| Peter Gowland | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 3, 1916 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Died | March 17, 2010 (aged 93) Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Glamour photographer |
| Years active | 1936–1966 |
| Spouse(s) | Alice Adams (m. 1941–2010) |
Peter Gowland (April 3, 1916 – March 17, 2010) was a famous American glamour photographer and actor. He was known for designing and building his own studio equipment and was active professionally for six decades.
Gowland shot more than 1,000 magazine covers, mostly glamour shots of female models but also portraits of celebrities including Rock Hudson and Robert Wagner. His covers included Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Modern Photography. He invented elite cameras and equipment that he used to shoot pinups and magazine covers. In the late 1950s, Gowland also invented the twin-lens Gowlandflex camera, which used 4-by-5 inch film for high-quality pictures. The camera has since been used by such photographers as Annie Leibovitz and Yousuf Karsh.
Gowland grew up on movie sets and worked as film extra in his youth. He learned photo lighting and techniques from watching movies being shot. The son of Gibson Gowland and Sylvia Andrew, both actors, he acted in at least 12 films, mostly uncredited. He had a small part in Citizen Kane.
The 1971 human anatomy textbook The Anatomical Basis of Medical Practice featured photographs by Gowland in the surface anatomy section. The book was authored by professors R. Frederick Becker, James S. W. Wilson, and John A. Gehweiler, and was met with scandal and a feminist boycott, which resulted in the withdrawal by the publisher after only 5000 copies were distributed.
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