Who Shot It Better? Twin Peaks: Marc Hom or Kurt Iswarienko

Who Shot It Better? Twin Peaks: Marc Hom or Kurt Iswarienko

Twenty-five years after it last aired, David Lynch’s weird and compelling Twin Peaks returns to TV as a limited series, and it seems everyone from the early 90s is freaking out! The PR campaigns are in full gear, which gives us a great opportunity to look at some cover photography.

In March, Entertainment Weekly put together three covers shot by Danish fashion photographer Marc Hom evoking Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” – so rife with meaning…

Here are the covers:

Entertainment Weekly Twin Peaks Cover

Lush colors, and contrasty without being overly so. Judging by the illumination of Lynch’s hair vs his face, the keylight is positioned pretty high. The rim lights give nice separation of the darker tones from the background. Hey, WHO’s the owl?

And here is a composite panorama of images from the same shoot:

Of course, allusions to da Vinci’s masterpiece are commonplace in pop culture. Who could forget Annie Leibovitz’s version for The Sorpranos:

The Soprano's Last Supper Annie Leibovitz

Or Lost:

Lost Last Supper

Or Battlestar Galactica:

Battlestar Galactica Last Supper

Or The Simpsons:

Simpson Last Supper

And in the other corner, Variety magazine shot by Kurt Iswarienko, who also happens to be Mr. Shannon Doherty. Iswarienko portfolio has a very specific look to it. There’s a dream-like quality accentuated by brilliant but desaturated colors that reminds me a little of Pari Dukovic covered with mesh. How’s *that* for a description!

BTS video:

The Verdict:

I wouldn’t normally say that Iswarienko’s style matches my taste. His photography feels a bit overprocessed to me, but in this case, I think he’s found a contemporary vibe to a noirish subject. There’s a mystery about his photos that separate them from the more conventional Hom covers, and I think the poses, expressions and set piece work more effectively than that old guy da Vinci. Keep Twin Peaks Weird!

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This article was written by

Allen Murabayashi is the co-founder of PhotoShelter.

There are 2 comments for this article
  1. Steve at 9:56 am

    The arm on the steering wheel looks really odd. Too high for his head/body placement. Definitely looks like the head was dropped in.

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