“Finally, but very much in the middle of things, is the Still Photographer. His very presence in this formidable machinery is incongruous. He is a misfit. Of all the assembled technicians, he is the only one who does not contribute directly to what finally appears on the screen… And yet, remaining on the fringe of the general pandemonium but working closely with directors, cast, and crews provides a unique vantage point, one from which I could observe the world of movies intimately, yet realistically.”

Louis Goldman

I love being a photographer

Making images for the Art Department is always exciting for me as I never know what visual problem we will have to solve next.

I am often recreating a historical image, matching lighting and subject position so that it may be composited into the original. Sometimes I might have to make five different driver’s license photos for five people from different cities, or perhaps I am doing surveillance photography for stake outs, crime scene photos for the murder board, or a family portrait to adorn a desk.

I specialize in the giant Translite Backgrounds that hang in the studio to make an outdoor scene appear through the set window. Typically I would make twelve to fifty six separate plates using a panoramic head or robotic that then get stitched together in Photoshop to make a 20 X 120 foot printed drop. Sometimes they have to be a day/night drop in perfect registration, and taken over a ten hour period. Often I am working at height in a fall arrest harness.

I love being a photographer.

Shooting Gallery is one of the highlights for a Still Photographer in the film business. Now you are the D.O.P., the Director, the Producer… it is exciting and fun.

Interestingly, I often do set ups just off of set as a target of opportunity, and they become images used as key art instead.

More rarely, images from Unit Photography are used to create Key Art.

The main distinction for me, one that I cherish, is that I get to work one on one with the actor, even for a moment, and together we make an image that embodies the spirit of the show.

I love being a photographer.

Until the show goes to air, I have to enjoy my time with cast and crew privately… now it is your turn!

I have always had a love affair with fashion and beauty photography.

I still remember seeing the cover of a Vogue magazine that my Mom had, featuring an Avedon shot of Twiggy, with a flower of make up on her eye… I was hooked!

Right out of school I was shooting model testing, for their portfolio and mine, which was the path to editorial and advertising work.

Now that I mainly shoot in film, that experience serves me well, as I get to make images of some of the most stunning people on the planet.

I love being a photographer

Advertising photography was the bigs.

The budgets were huge, matched by the pressure, but there was nothing like seeing one of your images on a bill board, bus shelter, or as a full page ad in a magazine.

I love being a photographer

Editorial has always been one of the best gigs in photography, because the photography was celebrated, and as a shooter you could be more free in your approach… less constricted to a layout than advertising photography.

Sadly, social media has largely eliminated commissioned gigs for magazines. But for a glorious period I got to be in the thick of it.

I love being a photographer.

“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly-that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self.”

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

This is the resumé for Peter Stranks, IATSE 667 Still Photographer. A downloadable PDF is available by email if you contact Peter at peter@stranks.com