HOLLYWOOD HILLS—Legendary photographer, Julius Shulman, died in his Hollywood Hills home on July 15 at the age of 98.

Shulman captured numerous images of modernist architecture in California.  He helped popularize postwar architecture by pioneering architects like Richard Neutra in the mid 1930s and Pierre Koenig in the early 1960s. 

Shulman stumbled upon his first modern house in 1936 when a draftsman for Neutra invited Shulman to see the architect’s house which was under construction at the time.  Equipped with his camera, Shulman was very intrigued by the form of the house—he had, by chance, fallen into what would make him into a renowned professional architecture photographer.    
His photos at one time sold for less than $50 per shot, but in later years, his works were worth up to $20,000 per photo. 

Shulman’s most famous photograph was taken on May 6, 1960—“Case Study House #22.”  The black and white photo captured a glass and steel frame home built in the Hollywood Hills by pioneering architect Pierre Koenig.  The photograph made its appearance in John Entenza’s Arts & Architecture magazine. 

Shulman's "Case Study House #22".

Known as one-shot Shulman, the photographer never used a light meter and rarely ever took more than one shot, and yet he was always able to get an inspiring photograph. 

Shulman was born in 1910 in Brooklyn, N.Y. and then moved to Los Angeles when he was 10 years old.  He attended Roosevelt High School where he took his first, and only, photography class. 

He spent several years of his life walking around and earning rent money by taking photos with an Eastman box camera.  During that time, Shulman won first place in a national magazine contest with a picture of a bridge. 

Shulman is survived by his daughter and a grandson. 

Julius Shulman (Courtesy of: http://www.arcspace.com/books/neutra/6.Julius-Shulman.jpg)

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