Posts tagged ‘portraiture’
Macaulay Culkin and Adam Green Portrait Shoot
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
From The Archives: Actor/Director David Schwimmer
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
