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Dwight Hooker

{{short description|American photography}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Dwight Hooker

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|6|22}}

| birth_place = Albany, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2015|1|3|1928|6|22}}

| death_place = Michigan, U.S.

| death_cause =

| other_names =

| known_for =

| occupation = Photographer, architect

| spouse =

| children = 6

}}

Dwight Hooker (June 22, 1928 – January 3, 2015) was an American photographer and architect. He was best known as a photographer for Playboy magazine and has been described as one of the masters of "the sensual and the erotic", along with photographers Helmut Newton and J. Frederick Smith.{{cite book |first1=A. D. |last1=Coleman |first2=Sheer |last2=Grantz |title=The Photography A-V program directory |publisher=Photography Media Institute |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-936524-00-9}}{{cite book |first=Sean |last=Callahan |title=Photographing sensuality, J. Frederick Smith |page=45 |publisher=Crowell |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-690-00781-7}} One of his photographs became the basis of Lenna, the standard test image for image processing algorithms (such as compression and denoising) and related scientific publications.{{cite book |first=Jon |last=Tarrant |title=Understanding Digital Cameras: Getting the Best Image from Capture to Output |url=https://archive.org/details/understandingdig0000tarr |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/understandingdig0000tarr/page/41 41] |publisher=Focal Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-240-52024-7}}{{cite book |first=Juergen |last=Seitz |title=Digital watermarking for digital media |page=9 |publisher=Idea Group Inc (IGI) |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-59140-518-4}}

Career

Hooker photographed the centerfold featuring Lena Söderberg for the best-selling edition of Playboy, the November 1972 edition issue, which sold 7,161,561 copies.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101219182557/http://photoshopnews.com/2007/04/24/geek-love-the-lenna-story/ Geek Love, the Lenna Story]}}, Photoshop News, Adobe A cropped image from that pictorial, known as Lenna, became the standard test image for image processing algorithms (such as compression and denoising) and related scientific publications.

Hooker originated and provided the photographs for the magazine's commercial campaign "What sort of a man reads Playboy?", which became an example of sociodemographic segmentation for advertising campaigns.{{cite book |first1=Martin F. |last1=Kaplan |first2=Steven |last2=Schwartz |title=Human judgment and decision processes in applied settings |page=233 |publisher=Academic Press |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-12-397240-8}} It featured young, educated and urban men who had money and were not averse to spending it and took pleasure as a duty.{{cite book |first=Steven |last=Cohan |title=Masked men: masculinity and the movies in the fifties |page=270 |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-253-21127-9}}{{cite book |first=Gary |last=Cross |title=Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity |page=73 |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-231-14431-5}}{{cite book |first1=Robin |last1=Tolmach Lakoff |first2=Raquel L. |last2=Scherr |title=Face value, the politics of beauty |page=[https://archive.org/details/facevaluepolitic00lako/page/227 227] |publisher=Routledge |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-7100-9742-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/facevaluepolitic00lako/page/227 }} The campaign, with its use of undressed men and women, was ruled by the US Supreme Court to be "not obscene", although the court decision did call it "offensive".{{cite journal |title=United States Supreme Court reports |volume=100 |page=282 |publisher=Lawyers Co-operative Pub. Co. |year=1977}}

Other milestones in Hooker's career include photographing the twins Madeleine and Mary Collinson (the first twin Playmates on Playboy, for cover and centerfold of the October 1970 issue), Marilyn Cole (the first Playmate to pose for a full frontal nude centerfold and the first Briton to hold the title of Playmate of the Year), Jayne Marie Mansfield (daughter of Jayne Mansfield), Candy Loving (the 25th Anniversary Playmate), Monica Tidwell (the first Playmate to be younger than Playboy), Nancy Cameron (the 20th Anniversary Playmate and the only Playmate to have a back and front double-sided centerfold[http://timelines.com/1974/1/playboy-20th-anniversary-playmate 20th Anniversary Playmate] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717061026/http://timelines.com/1974/1/playboy-20th-anniversary-playmate |date=July 17, 2011 }}, Timeline), Marilyn Lange (both her Playmate of the Month and Playmate of the Year layouts for May 1974 and June 1975 issues respectively) and Jill De Vries (the first Playmate with signed centerfold). He also photographed Playmate and Playboy bunny Barbi Benton (actress and singer who was Hugh Hefner's girlfriend) and Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor Alan Alda.

Hooker mentored other Playboy photographers including Stephen Wayda.{{cite news |first=Abbey |last=Hood |url=http://bhcourier.com/behind-the-lens-of-a-playboy-photographer/ |title=Behind the lens of a Playboy photographer |newspaper=The Beverly Hills Courier |accessdate=April 30, 2017}} He shot the cover for the first paperback edition of Playboy's Book of Forbidden Words (1974), with model Mercy Rooney.{{cite book |editor-first=Robert A. |editor-last=Wilson |title=Playboy's Book of Forbidden Words |publisher=Playboy Press |year=1974}} He is reported to have the record number of rejections for a Playboy photographer when Hugh Hefner, the publisher, rejected 500 of Hooker's photographs for a centerfold.{{cite book |first=Russell |last=Miller |title=Bunny: The real story of Playboy |page=11 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-03-063748-3}}{{cite book |first=Gene N. |last=Landrum |title=Entrepreneurial Genius: The Power of Passion |page=161 |publisher=Brendan Kelly Publishing Inc. |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-895997-23-1}}

Personal life

Hooker retired from Playboy to Sundance, Utah to work as an architect. He was a regular at the Sundance Film Festival.{{cite book |first=Lory |last=Smith |title=Party in a Box: Story of the Sundance Film Festival |page=41 |publisher=Gibbs M. Smith Inc. |date=December 1998 |isbn=0-87905-861-7}}

Hooker died in Michigan on January 3, 2015, at the age of 86.{{cite news |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?pid=173736176 |title=Dwight Hooker Obituary |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=January 6, 2015}}

Playboy work

=Playboy centerfolds=

=Playboy covers=

=Playmate pictorials=

Books

=Christina series=

A book series on imaginary heiress Christina van Bell was written by "Blakely St. James", a pseudonym for multiple authors including Robin Leonard, Charles Platt, Ted Gottfried, William E Butterworth, and Hart Williams. Hooker provided the photographs used on the front and back covers. The model for all the books is Jill De Vries.

  • Christina's Quest, Playboy Press, 1976, {{ISBN|0-87216-885-9}}
  • Christina's Desire, Playboy Press, 1978
  • Christina's Rapture, Playboy Press, 1978
  • Christina's Ecstasy, Playboy Paperbacks, 1980, {{ISBN|0-86721-018-4}}
  • Christina's Sins, Playboy Press, 1980, {{ISBN|0-87216-729-1}}
  • Christina Enchanted, 1980
  • Christina's Promise, 1980
  • A Kiss for Christina, Playboy Press, 1981
  • Christina's Escape, Playboy Paperbacks, 1981, {{ISBN|0-87216-820-4}}
  • Christina's Obsession, Playboy Paperbacks, 1981, {{ISBN|0-87216-853-0}}
  • Christina in Love, Playboy Paperbacks, 1981, {{ISBN|0-87216-925-1}}
  • Christina's Bliss, Playboy Paperbacks, 1981
  • Christina's Hunger, 1981
  • Christina's Delight, 1982
  • Christina's Awakening, 1983
  • Christina's Favorite, 1983
  • Christina's Paradise, 1983
  • Christina's Confessions, 1983

=Other books=

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{imdb name|id=2491519|name=Dwight Hooker}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Dwight}}

Category:1928 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:Playboy photographers