CoolArt: Jeff Bridges: Pictures
I’m a Jeff Bridges fan. That boy can act. His performances, especially in The Big Lebowski, Tucker, and Fearless, are consistently pitch perfect. Pouring through the bonus tracks of his DVDs, I discovered that he not only acts, but dabbles in photography. Yesterday, I picked up a copy of his book, Pictures. He more than dabbles: that boy can shoot.
If you ever visit a film set, you’ll quickly notice that actors spend most of their time sitting around waiting for the crew. When they start a new scene, the crew takes a couple hours to set up. Then, they should the actors in about 15 minutes. They usually shoot a few different angles in a scene, each of which requires about a half hour to set up and 15 minutes with the actors to shoot it. In all, the actors were “on” only for about an hour and waiting for about 3. The best thing an actor can bring to the set is something to do.
Bridges brings a camera. Specifically he brings a Widelux 35mm panorama camera - a camera that shoots very wide angle images that feel like a 70mm movie on the big screen. He wields it expertly, capturing the strange behind-the-scenes world of movie making that I love: the juxtaposition between reality and staged reality; the the odd intensity that exists as dozens of people focus their attention on a single individual; the moments of quiet; the moments of camaraderie. It’s like theatre, but weirder. Bridges skillfully uses the particularly wide-angle of this camera to give the images a grand scale, but also manages to make very personal, intimate portraits as well. All the elements across the wide image hang tightly together with very graphic composition.
Bridges also accomplishes something rarely done: he takes satisfying vertical panoramas - check out his great portraits of Michelle Pfeiffer and Robin Williams.
Having done some production still photography myself (e.g. The Golden Leaf), I’ve got a particular soft spot for excellent work in this field. My favorite image in the book, though, is a photo only Bridges could get - a shot from the point of view of the actor as camera crew members peer intently at him through hands held up to form miniature movie frames. Meanwhile, the rest crew looks on waiting for direction. It’s a great image that gives me a whole new empathy for actors. Next time I direct something, I’m going to be a whole lot nicer to my actors. Maybe even treat them as people…
This isn’t just a book of snapshots. There are excellent pieces of documentary here, and wonderful portraits (like the one of Tommy Lee Jones on p. 102). I’m thoroughly inspired by the book (I spent all of lunchtime running around with my widest angle lens, wishing I had another film to cover).
