Hollywood Awards Season, 2012

Well, that time of year is upon us once again--that period known exclusively to Los Angeles residents as "Awards Season". This is where the entertainment business strings most of the major (and a lot of not-so-major) award shows together in the usual annual orgy of self-congratulations. And of course with all of these events come the attached parties and get-togethers, which yours truly has been covering almost non-stop for Getty. After all, this is where a good percentage of my yearly sales come from, so I naturally need to be out there getting as much quality product as I can. To give you some idea of what I've been dealing with, consider my activities from this past week alone:


VISUAL EFFECT SOCIETY AWARDS - 2.07.2012

This was one of the several tech-related award shows that leads up to the Oscars. In the case of VES, this means heavier and heavier reliance on CGI, which is where the bulk of these awards were directed to. The red carpet was rather ordinary--Stan Lee and Antonio Banderas being the exceptions--but then I got quietly tapped by the publicist for a private backstage shoot featuring Antonio, Patton Oswalt, and the one and only Martin Scorsese. Yes, the legendary director himself was before my lens...this was one of those nights where I felt on top of the world. Yes, there are definitely perks when working for a company like Getty.



Another one of those perks took place shortly afterward, when another photographer and I got into a conversation with Antonio Banderas, who was telling us about his experiences during a recent filming in Tunisia--during the Arab Spring uprising! I mean, the stories he told of getting moved from place to place were pretty startling. He also was recently in Morocco, and it was interesting to hear his observations on the differences between Moroccan and Tunisian societies, and why the uprising flared up so quickly in Tunisia but not in Morocco. The man very clearly has a keen mind, I certainly wouldn't mind getting in another conversation with him in the future. Oh, and MSNBC.com ran with one of my pictures of him as well. Nice.


JERRY LEWIS "THE JAZZ SINGER" DVD SIGNING - 2.08.2012

Then the next day, I was at Barnes & Noble at The Grove, shooting a DVD signing with the one and only Jerry Lewis. Let me tell you, when you see Jerry Lewis in person, you realize that even at his advanced age he is still a force of nature, in the same way that William Shatner is, or Charlton Heston was. Jerry is still the clown supreme, and he did not disappoint this day as he unleashed his vintage rubber face and gave all of the photographers something goofy to post.



WILL.I.AM's TRANSF4M BENEFIT FOR BOYLE HEIGHTS - 2.10.2012

This gig was at the Palladium, and was for me the most productive evening of the week. This was because MSNBC.com, who runs with my material from time to time, this time obliged me with two pictures for their daily Celebrity Gallery. One was of Taboo and apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas, and the other was of singer LeAnn Rimes arriving with her husband Eddie Cibrian. That one was shot when they were coming in from the parking lot, paps-style. I normally really frown on stuff like this, but as this shot involved nothing more than me turning around 180 degrees to get the parking lot shot, I won't bitch about it too much. This was actually the first time that MSNBC.com has run with more than one of my pics at the same time, which is a pretty nice feeling.

The Black Eyed Peas, minus Fergie.

Paris Hilton and DJ Afrojack.

LeAnn Rimes & hubby. She is gonna break her ankles in those shoes.


Last night was a really low-level party at the Roosevelt, which isn't really worth commenting about, to be honest. Now I just need to relax until I go to--yes, you guessed it--another shoot tonight in Santa Monica with Amy Poehler. No rest for the wicked, I tell you...

***POSTSCRIPT***
I just found out that Jerry Lewis went through my pictures of him on Getty's site, and he wants some of them for his personal collection! YES!!!