max s. gerber(the latest shot)

this shoot took place over two days in mid august, put together at a scramble with just hours to spare; the second day shoot addressing some wardrobe issues that were not able to be dealt with in the mad dash the day before.

celebrity shoots go fast and can be minefields of scheduling, intention and negotiation. very often things are decided at the last minute, and very often things that should have  been communicated clearly before the shoot begins are missed in the rush. this is no one’s fault in particular, just one of those things that happens when you deal with busy people. trust and rapport can be difficult to establish in these situations, especially when the subject isn’t particularly fond of being photographed, or has felt that things didn’t go so well when they were photographed in the past. i have great empathy for those made uneasy by the inherent discomfort of the photo shoot, and generally speaking i pride myself on being good at getting my subjects to look past that. it is surprising, though, when i am approached as an adversary rather than a creative partner.

often the most interesting things about any given picture are things best not discussed later. the publicity industrial complex is always surprising even though i’ve been in its vice-grip countless times.

jason reitman is a director (most famously of juno, and thank you for smoking before that). i am a fan of his films, despite any headaches this shoot might have caused at the time. this shoot was done for the cover of driven magazine, set to hit the stands in conjunction with the toronto film festival which featured jason’s new movie, up in the air. the orange chairs in the pic above are from the detroit airport where they filmed part of the movie. apparently this terminal was being renovated and the chairs trashed, but instead they ended up in jason’s office in beverly hills.

my thanks to dave and neil, and to kelly and gary at driven for their long hours, hard work and grace under fire.