Dennis Stock was an American photojournalist and a documentary photographer born in 1928, who worked at Magnum for most of his life. He became an apprentice to Life magazine photographer, Gion Mili and won his 1^st photographers contest for Life in 1951.

Since then he captured the essence of America in many memorable and iconic portraits of Hollywood stars. Stock shot several other documentaries such as his lesser-known works focusing on Californian hippies during the 1960s, urban origins on architecture as well as his most recent work of abstraction of flowers. Much of his memorable work was done during the Golden Age of Hollywood, which captured Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and along with several other famous icons.

Stock was known for his simple yet striking black-and-white photos of street scenes and on-site film sets in cities such as New York and Paris. His images sent his admirers a message of nuanced context in an effortless still-frame. 

In his 2005 book, James Dean: Fifty Years Ago, Stock wrote of the famous actor and his rapid rise to stardom. Documenting a set of photograph chronicles of Dean’s life in New York, Indiana to his new home in Los Angeles, Stock depicted Dean as an enticing self-absorbed and self-deprecating star. The series allowed admirers to get a glimpse into the Rebel Without A Cause’s cryptic demeanor.

Although Stock passed away in 2010, much of his work is not going under appreciated. A showcase at Milk Gallery by Milk Studios is featuring some of his work called the “Dennis Stock Photographs”, in New York City until April 17^th.

Photos by: Tina Chen, Dennis Stock as photographerWriter Source: Staff Writer Tina Chen