Posts tagged ‘celebrity’
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
Last night I was watching the Golden Globes and just loved the two hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who kept me cracking up all night. I thought it would be fun to take a look back at a photo shoot I had with the two of them back in 2008. The assignment was a press junket for their then new movie, Baby Mama. Like with any press junket, I’m tasked with showing up to a hotel, this time the Ritz Carleton in NYC, where I’m given a room to set up and have about 10 minutes to make a photo. I arrived early and decided the couch and stairwell would be the best spot.
One of my memories of this shoot was the insane amount of publicists and handlers that accompanied them into the room. Typically celebrities have a publicist in tow, but this time I counted at least seven who were all hovering over my shoulder while I was taking the photos.
The two were very funny and super nice…of course I had to get my photo with them!
Darren Criss Portrait Shoot for The New York Times
Last week I got a call from the New York Times asking me to photograph Darren Criss, the breakout star of the Fox high school musical series “Glee”, to accompany a story about his upcoming Broadway debut in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
One of the things I love about my job is the unexpected assignments I receive usually on a moment’s notice. This time my editor called around 5PM to schedule a shoot later in the evening on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at an old-school diner near Darren’s apartment. It happened to be very cold that night, so I opted to take a few pictures inside the diner so we could first warm up a bit.
I met the reporter, Patrick Healey, and soon after Darren arrived joyful with a big grin. It’s always nice to work with someone who is very upbeat and talkative. Darren, Patrick, and I had a hot tea to warm up and chatted a bit before I started shooting.
When I have celebrity shoots, I always try to arrive a bit in advance to scout the area for nice portrait locations because often I have little time with those subjects. I’m always looking for quality light sources, as I prefer to take naturally lit portraits as often as possible. I love documentary photography and I suppose shooting natural light is my way of merging the two genres of photography.
After capturing a few portraits of him enjoying a ice cream sundae at the bar in the diner, we walked outside and up the block to a bank of pay phones I’d scouted earlier. I liked the nostalgia of a pay phone, but what really drew me was the light from the adjacent Apple Store spilling directly into the booths.
I hope I cross paths Darren again in the future…until then, break a leg on Broadway!
Justin Bieber LIVE on TODAY Show
This morning I covered Justin Bieber’s appearance on NBC’s TODAY Show in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
I had to arrive at the crack of dawn to wait, along with hoards of other press, while enduring the shrieks of Bieber’s diehard tween fans. I was in need of an Aspirin after this shoot. If headache is a symptom of Bieber Fever….I can certainly say I caught a case of it listening to them scream!
I quickly found that the press riser where many of the celebrity photographers lined up to shoot was not a viable option for me as I would’ve been crammed behind 40 other photographers. So I opted to shoot from the rear of the stage where nobody was shooting from. I really lucked out because I was able to pull off some nice frames shooting through the crazy fans. I like to stray from the pack and get something different….at least my photographs are unique versus everyone shooting from the riser getting the same canned shots.
I was also able to give Justin and his manager my prototype books containing the images from my all-access coverage at the Z100 JingleBall and they very much liked it, which made me quite happy. Perhaps a new project in the works!
Here’s the source of the headache:
Take a peek at a slideshow Justin Bieber’s TODAY Show concert.
Justin Bieber TODAY Show Concert – Images by Robert Caplin
From The Archives – Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman – Images by Robert Caplin
Due to some Facebook requests, I’m going to bring out my Uma Thurman shoot.
This session was another press junket type situation at the Regency Avenue on Park Ave (Same as Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and for this junket she was making her rounds for her upcoming movie “Accidental Husband”, though I wasn’t shooting her for for that particular movie. As it turned out, I was scheduled directly after the entire day of interviews and photo-shoots for Uma, so she was dead-tired when her day was over and her publicists told her she has just one more shoot with me for the LA Times.
One of the thing’s I’ve learned about shooting celebrities is that time is VERY limited. Often less than 5 minutes and you’re done….this shoot was no exception. For beginners, I was given a hotel room what was literally turned upside-down with couches pushed vertically into the corners and a big round table littered with empty bottles of water and soda. I started with her out in the hallway of the hotel, directly outside the room I was given to photograph. Inside the room, I also had two more portrait situations set up so I could throw Uma in on the fly, if she gave me the time.
Right when Uma was arriving, I could just tell she was worn out and didn’t want to have to have anymore pictures taken. Oh boy…. I literally took a few frames in the hallway and she said:
“Ok, you got it, that’s enough, right?” and started to walk away.
“Actually, we have just a few more set up inside the room!” I interrupted in an excited tone.
I was able to persuade her to continue and enter the discombobulated room I was provided. At this point her hair/makeup stylist, a flamboyant fellow of about 5’5”, kept asking me to show him the photos on the back of my camera. Normally I decline because that leads the actor and the publicists to want to see and approve, but this time I obliged because I wanted the shoot to continue smoothly past 5 frames! It actually turned out to be a benefit because the stylist really liked the photos and he was extremely vocal about it, which cheered Uma up considerably!.
From there I snapped a few I’d prepared earlier at the window and in the corner of the room. I’ve found that getting to the shoot extra early helps me figure out a number of portrait scenarios so I have more than one set-up to choose from in the end. It also gives me time to have lighting in place and ready so the talent only has to step onto the mark.
Here’s a video I took the day of the shoot….it was originally for my grandmother back in Ohio…so excuse the nonsense talk. I cut most of it out! Tiffany Clark was assisting me the day of that shoot:
Uma was happy I only took a matter of minutes to complete her portrait session and took a snap with me!
A Night Out with Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian Night Out – Images by Robert Caplin
As I mentioned in my previous post about Madeleine Albright, I’ve shot a few of these “Night Out” columns for the NY times that put a reporter and myself out for an evening chilling with a celebrity-type.
I got the assignment and was told I would be photographing Kim Kardashian….but I wasn’t exactly sure who she was. I’d heard the name on TV a few times…but since I watch all my TV on Hulu, I dont see all the reality TV that on so often. So I googled her and quickly became a little too familiar with her….
Anyhow, I met up with Kim and her sister, Chloe, the reporter and another of their friends at a hip/modern dinner spot called Delicatessen. It was a strange experience for me because I felt like I was with these celebrities who I really had no knowledge of. In fact when we left the restaurant I got scared to death by a paparazzi! Little dude scared the crap out of me! So after dinner we headed to a club called Avenue where we hung out for a spell….and that was pretty much the night….
Take a gander at the article here.
You’ll notice she was on her phone under the table twittering….this was before I really knew what the heck Twitter was….she asked my username and i didn’t even know what it was. (You can see her asking me in the third pic in the slideshow) I guess she was going to tell her fans she was hanging out with me and the reporter….I later looked at her page and saw she has over 2 million followers…dang that would have gotten some eyes on my website.
Guess what my twitter account is? @robertcaplin ….sigh
