Scorsese part 2 - interview with Michael Grecco
This is part 2 of the Martin Scorsese shoot story. The following is a Q and A with photographer Michael Grecco about this shoot:
Q: When you were hired for the Scorsese job was there an initial idea or did you base the concept on the location?
A: The concept is from my vision of how we view Scorsese as an icon. Through his movies, he is so vividly associated with the streets of New York City that I was compelled to create that feeling in my images. I asked his office for suggestions for rooftop locations and they suggested the balcony of his own building.
Q: How did you light this shot to achieve the final moody look?
A: As I explain in my new book, “Lighting And the Dramatic Portrait,” I try to wrap my lights around my subjects to create space and shape. In this case, I used a medium Chimera strip box with a Dyna-lite 2000 pack off to camera right. Then I added a tight grid spot with a Dyna-lite 1000 pack from the other side to open up areas of his coat and the apple boxes.
Q: A lot of people don’t realize that you travel with most of your gear. Can you comment on what you bring to a location shoot and why?
A: I own it, I know what it does, I know it works, why would I not bring it? We supplement every shoot with local rentals but I usually bring a core minimum of my own stuff.
Q: Why would you bring us (Image Mechanics) and all our computer/camera gear to NY instead of hiring local?
A: The capture is the most important part of the whole equation. When shooting digitally, there is no tangible material at the end of the shoot. If those files are not captured correctly or they are lost the shoot is gone! Just as I wouldn’t shoot without my own gear, I wouldn’t shoot without Image Mechanics. For me, I could not think of a more trusted team of people to capture my images.
Q: How much actual shoot time did you have with Mr. Scorsese?
A: We had about 30 minutes to do two set ups. The second set up was for his column on the inside of the magazine and I needed multiple expressions for those images. It was an intense 30 minutes.
Q: Do you find it crazy that someone would pay to fly you and your crew to NY and then only give you a few minutes to do the job?
A: Not at all. The President of DirecTV personally asked me to do this shoot. The picture editor of the magazine thought it was crazy to send someone to New York because the shoot dates kept moving and because of the expense for what was to be a 30 minute shoot. The best compliment I got was when I blew my picture editor, Taylor Pappas (a friend I used to work for at GQ), away with the images. That’s when everyone knows they sent the right photographer for the job regardless of the expense and the travel involved.
Q: How has digital changed the way you shoot?
A: It has opened up a whole new world for me. I am able to develop the image itself, live, while I am doing the shoot. It’s also a great tool for collaborating with a great Creative Director, Art Director, or Picture Editor.
You can order a signed edition of Michael Grecco’s book at his web site and you can check his seminars page for booksigning appearances. He will be presenting his lighting seminar at Photo Plus Expo in New York as well as a high volume commercial workflow session with yours truly.
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October 11th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
[...] For the rooftop shot, we set up an intervalometer to capture the shoot process from setup to breakdown. For part two of this post, we will show the resulting Quicktime movie and Michael Grecco will comment on his lighting concepts. Posted in: Shoot Stories by Britt on September 25, 2006 [...]
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:01 am
[...] What got me thinking about Michael’s work was a blog post over on Death to Film which has a short interview with Grecco, and a super cool time lapse video of Michael shooting a portrait of Martin Scorsese on a New York rooftop. Grecco just came out with a new book called Lighting And the Dramatic Portrait: The Art of Celebrity And Editorial Photography, which I plan to purchase soon. His website is michaelgrecco.com. [...]