Hotshoe #215: At the Movies

For this issue of Hotshoe: At the Movies, we focus on the relatively unexplored photographic space of the film set, and peek behind-the-scenes of some of the biggest films of recent times with the photographers hired (or not) to document that space. We publish interviews with many of these top photographers, and a few comments from their directors, to explore the transitional space between one's own work and art, and the work commissioned by someone else. All with unique perspectives on how to work within the scope of another artist's world.

Working to someone else's brief can ignite creativity through its restriction. The natural boundaries placed on photographers shooting on film sets can sometimes facilitate an unexplored direction for a photographer's own work and a plethora of new ideas. And the collaboration or lack of collaboration between a director and a photographer can either hinder or help that process. What the photographer chooses to focus on and whether that focus is in line with the director's vision or opposed in style and tone to the filmmaker will also determine its outcome.

Finally, we are thrilled to feature David Campany's words, which accompany Robert Cumming's images, Studio Still Lifes, in the Crude Metaphors section. Cumming was invited to photograph behind the scenes at Universal Studios in 1977. 

HOTSHOE has been in print since 1977. Renowned as a cutting edge photography magazine, it is well known in an industry that has changed dramatically since the 1970s. In 2002, HOTSHOE was reinvented as a showcase of photographic portfolios, with a multitude of voices and opinions that include some of the most influential names in photography today, writing in one of the few truly independent publications, and distributed throughout the world.