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!

I had an opportunity to photograph Megyn Kelly,  the anchor of “America Live” on Fox News for a New York Times Style Section profile piece. I’ve always enjoyed shooting on the sets of television shows,  whether they be sitcom,  news,  or dramas. It’s interesting for me to document how television is made.

I met Megyn on set a few moments prior to her live newscast. I wanted to get a good mix of documentary and portraiture,  so I only spent a few moments on set taking her portrait,  rather I wanted to document her while preparing for her show and delivering the news On Air. Normally when I shoot on a set,  I can only roam and take photos freely during commercial breaks or through the glass of a control room because of the camera noise. This time,  I was able to shoot continuously though the broadcast on set because I was using my new Leica M9,  which is super quiet…just love that camera!

Her show is three hours long and afterward we rendezvoused in her office where I took more relaxed portraits. It was a small,  but nicely decorated traditional office incorporating many photos of her family,  her large shoe collection,  and a comfy lounge chair set dozens of floors in the New York City sky.

Poor Megyn was suffering a mega cold the day of our shoot having to suck on lozenges and bear through awful coughing spells during commercial breaks. She has a tough job,  especially when you’re under the weather!

I had a really nice time over at Fox News. I found their PR team,  stage manager,  cameramen, and Megyn herself were more than accommodating and super friendly. I also made my dad and grandfather proud having steeped foot in their favorite news channel’s headquarters!

I have to admit, it’s always fun meeting people you see on television and in the movies. I had the opportunity to photograph actor Macaulay Culkin (goes by Mack) for a New York Times article about how he and musician Adam Green had worked together to create a movie filmed entirely on an iPhone 3G.

For this assignment I wasn’t quite sure what to expect….I was to meet at Adam’s small, eccentric apartment in the afternoon and take their portrait. Green’s apartment was part of the movie’s set, so I  planned to use the interior of his home as a backdrop.

After taking a handful of indoor portraits with a number of goofy, papier-mâché props from the movie, we took a short walk in the park across the street where the three of us chatted about our love of Manhattan, my touring with Bieber, and the women’s-sized, brown, leather jacket and police mug shot “Free Mack!” t-shirt Macaulay was wearing for the shoot.  It certainly was an amusing conversation to say the least!

Adam and Mack were fun guys to hang around. I hope we have a chance to work together again in the future…or at least grab a drink!

More photos from the shoot in my archives:

Culkin/Green Shoot – Images by Robert Caplin

I had a great shoot a few months back with actor David Schwimmer of FRIENDS fame for a New York Times article. These days he’s directing movies and living in Manhattan with his wife and his new baby daughter.

Anyhow, as usual I wasn’t given much information about what or where I could or couldn’t shoot because my editors are working with his  publicists. In general, the more people it takes to schedule a shoot, less information makes it’s way to me. Par for the course. I was simply told to meet David at the 92Y Tribecca.

Because I didn’t know exactly where I could shoot or how much time I’d have to bang out a portrait, I enlisted the help of my friend and fellow photographer Charles Ludeke. We arrived about 20 minutes early and checked out the neighborhood around the 92Y and quickly found a nearby location with a pedestrian bridge over the West Side Highway and a street with very little foot or car traffic. I took a few test shots of Charles before we headed back to the rendezvous where we were to met up with David.

Once David arrived, he was entirely friendly, non-rushed, and talkative. We really hit it off as his wife is also a photographer and we had a nice and somewhat geeky conversation about camera gear. He’s now familiar with DSLR cameras, using them for some of his productions.

For the most part, all the portraits I took were natural light with an extremely shallow depth of field. I used the city, streets, buildings, and bridge as a backdrop. I did break out a strobe (Canon 580) for one setup, but it was very simple. In fact, my assistant Charles became a human light stand and held the light for me.

All and all, I had a nice time and productive shoot. A few weeks before David had his new baby, he kindly invited me out to lunch to a restaurant in Greenwich Village. Not surprisingly he’s a great guy and just as friendly as he seems on the big screen.

David Schwimmer – Images by Robert Caplin

Jason Reitman – Images by Robert Caplin

Another dip into the photo vault finds the hot film director, Jason Reitman, currently in the news for his latest movie, Up in the Air, starring George Clooney. Check out this cool interview with Jason Reitman I caught on my NPR podcast.

When I was commissioned by the Los Angeles Times in Feb 2008 to take his portrait, it was for a critical essay by Dennis Lim discussing the ways in which the new crop of Oscar-nominated best directors are emblematic of the direction cinema is moving. I’d link the story, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere online!

Jason’s publicist squeezed the shoot into his schedule at The London, a fancy hotel in New York. I showed up about 20 minutes early in order to find the hotel room and set up a few different poses prior to his arrival.

The highlight was when I used one of my awesome jokes to try and get a smile from the director… ”So a neutron walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender sets the beer down and says, “For you, no charge!”…

…but I only got pity.

Hey Jason, if you’re looking for a production photographer for your next flick…you know where to find me!