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Robbie Augspurger’s series Glamour & Headshots wasn’t inspired by retro filters on an Instagram app. Instead, he makes portraits that look like The Partridge Family because that’s the photography he grew up with.
“That’s just my favorite look of the 20th century,” he says. “The era of mustaches and brown suits and thick ties.”
Augspurger, who’s 36, loves finding old shoeboxes with photos of his parents from the ’60s and ’70s and gazing at the faded pictures his dad used to keep on the dashboard of his pickup truck. Raised in the 1980s, Augspurger recalls sitting for family portraits during the heyday of cheesy mall photography.
“I still remember when companies like Olan Mills would set up their lights in the basement of the church and hit you with their flash,” he says.
He was first inspired when he bought a set of ’80s Photogenic FlashMaster lights. To test the equipment, he asked his roommate to sit for a portrait. His subject agreed, but came dressed in a three-piece tweed suit. The scene immediately reminded Augspurger of old family photos and he decided to tone the image to match the getup.
The Portland photographer has acquired a huge assortment of vintage clothes to help establish the look and is constantly on the hunt for new props he thinks will make a good photo.
“I always want to find those glasses that the nuclear engineer back in 1982 would have used while he was standing there shifting levers,” he says.
Augspurger stays away from professional models, instead photographing friends who don’t mind looking goofy and are unaccustomed to posing for the camera. He creates stories for his subjects, asks them to take on a new persona, and often titles the image with the name of that make-believe character.
“I’ll tell my friend, ‘Okay, you are Bud Kaiser and you work at Consolidated Affiliates and you are the company manger and your mom sent you home with that casserole after dinner so you have indigestion today and you’re having some trouble with the kids at school, but you still have to get the paperwork in and still have to do the company photo shoot and I am your photographer.’ And then I get their first reaction trying to be that person and that’s often the best photo,” he says.
The series has struck a chord with a wide audience. He’s been hired by fashion companies to shoot portraits that feature their clothing and says families often approach him because they like the look.
“Especially around the holidays, everyone wants the photos for their Christmas cards,” he says.
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