Sarah Palin Portrait - “Going Rogue”
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity, Commercial, Tear Sheets
I am pleased to announce I was hired by Harper Collins to photograph Sarah Palin for the cover of her new book “Going Rogue“. If you watched even just a few minutes of TV this week, or used the Internet, I am sure you have already seen the book cover. ”Going Rogue” has not even been printed, and it is already the #1 best seller. It still feels a little surreal to me that my portrait of Sarah Palin is on the cover of her book. Just about every television network in the country has been airing the book cover and analyzing what it means. Why the clouds, why the smile… My favorite reference so far was on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, but only because he mentioned me… kind of. He talked about the portrait of her on the book cover, and then quoted “the photographer”. It was a fake quote of course, and he didn’t actually say my name, but that is pretty close to being on The Tonight Show… (Here) is a link to the video. It’s in the first 3 minutes of the episode.
The photo shoot only happened three weeks ago, so this is all still very new and exciting for me. After much planning and scheduling, I put together a crew and flew up to Alaska for six days to photograph the former governor. It was supposed to rain the entire week we were there, but we ended up getting blue skies and puffy white clouds the entire time. After a few days of scouting and prepping, I shot for three days straight. The last day we went to Hatcher Pass which holds a lot of meaning for Governor Palin. I had already scouted the pass a few different times, and I knew exactly where we were going to shoot. Every last detail was in place. After shooting at the base of the pass near a river, we caravaned up to the top of the pass where we were planning to shoot the final location. Half way up, I noticed the beautiful light that was sweeping across the valley, and the clouds that were developing on the horizon. I told the driver to stop, we had to change our plans. This last minute change ended up being the final setup we would do with her, and it also ended up being the cover image.
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on this project. It is not very often that an assignment comes along to photograph one of the most polarizing figures in our country. Let alone the chance to photograph that person for her book cover. I would like to thank Harper Collins and Sarah Palin for working with me. This was a really big opportunity for me professionally, and I enjoyed it immensely. I am excited to see what happens next.
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Dennis Haysbert
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity
It has always been a dream of mine to photograph the President of The United States, and now I can cross that off my list of things to do. David Palmer is the first African American president in US history. Well, in TV history I should say. Dennis Haysbert played President David Palmer on Fox’s 24, and he talked about playing the president at our shoot, “A lot of people considered me to be the first black president - which is ridiculous, but that’s the power of TV.”
Speaking of the influence of TV. I am seriously considering switching my auto insurance to Allstate.
I photographed Dennis while he was in Seattle working on an upcoming movie called “The Details“. Toby Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, and Laura Linney are also in the film. It is being labeled as a dark comedy, and there are rumors that the plot revolves around a married couple dealing with a raccoon problem. That might just be a rumor though. Dennis said that you could get 30 different answers as to what the film is about depending on who you ask. We will see… (Here) is an interesting story about the home the movie is being filmed in. Sounds like the project hit some rough spots, but they are back on track now.
Conan recently ran a pretty funny sketch on The Tonight Show called Twitter Tracker. The sketch quoted several celebrity tweets in an attempt to convince viewers of the value of Twitter. The grand finale was a tweet by Dennis Haysbert. ”Just saw the new Star Trek movie. Wow, really good.” I was hoping to go to his Twitter page after our shoot and read about how he just worked with the most amazing photographer. It turns out the whole skit was made up, and Dennis doesn’t even use Twitter. Can you believe that? Conan, making stuff up?
Tags: 24, actor headshot, actor portrait, Allstate Insurance, Allstate spokesman, CBS, Celebrity, celebrity actor, celebrity headshot, celebrity photography, Celebrity Portrait, David Palmer, Dennis Haysbert, First African American President, Fox, Headshot, John Keatley, Keatley, movie, movie filmed in Seattle, President Palmer, Seattle movie, The Details, The Details movie, The Unit, The Wire, Toby Maguire
Make It Work, Tim Gunn Style
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity, Editorial
Tim Gunn. The man is like a saint. Everyone loves him. And I have to say, he is one of the nicest people I have ever photographed or met. He was kind, easy to work with, and the only person who has ever said to me, “Are you sure you don’t want more time?” at the end of a shoot. What most people don’t know about this picture is that I actually made his suit out of an old soft box, and the lining from one of my camera bags. ”Find a way to mitigate that center seam” he repeatedly instructed as I tirelessly worked, rushing to finish the garment. ”Make it work!”
Talk about pressure. Thankfully he thought the suit was stunning, and the shoot went great too. While I was packing up, I noticed Tim in the corner of the room tearing up a piece of berber carpet. I gave him a questioning look, and he said, “For our next challenge, you will be designing an outfit for a garden party. You have fifteen minutes to caucus.”
Season 6 of Project Runway, hosted by Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum will be starting soon. To hold you over, (here) is one of my favorite Tim Gunn video clips.
Tags: author portrait, book portrait, Celebrity, celebrity photographer, celebrity photography, Celebrity Portrait, Fashion Design, Headshot, Headshots, Liz Claiborne, Parsons, Portrait, Project Runway, Style, Tim Gunn, Tim Gunn 10 Essentials, Tim Gunn Blog, Tim Gunn Guide To Style, Tim Gunn headshot, Tim Gunn picture, Tim Gunn portrait, Tim Gunn's guide to style, TV host, TV personality
