Another Sundance has come and gone and for the Reuters News Pictures trio of Fred Prouser, Mario Anzuoni and me, (not to mention writers Bob Tourtellotte, Mary Milliken and Reuters TV’s John Russell and  Krystian Orlinski),  it was a week of frozen toes and over-rubbed elbows.

For the photographers it is mostly a blur of portrait sessions, staking out the ‘gifting suites’ (movie stars are attracted to free knick knacks like flies to honey) and shooting anything up to three premieres a day. Happily our logistics marvel Larry Rubenstein had worked his magic and compared to our friends at rival agencies, our operation ran smooth as silk.

Mario Anzuoni

Having everyone stay in the same house was a real advantage because it allowed us to coordinate coverage with our reporters and TV crews.        

Parking is a major problem at Sundance. Park City’s tiny streets are either blocked with traffic or blocked-off for parking, making rental cars hard to use. Larry’s solution was the luxury of three local drivers coordinated by schedule and phone to take us around the festival, which of course made a massive difference. Walking past the pack of freezing photographers at the bus stop while yelling into my phone: “Broken Mudskipper ready for extraction from rendezvous point A”, was a constant source of delight for the Reuters team.

Lucas Jackson

Entertainment Editor Sam Mircovich and senior photographer Fred Prouser had worked for weeks planning an outline coverage schedule. The plan was inevitably tweaked and perfected on the run, depending on which PR company decided to cancel what morning portrait shoot late at night, or when a premiere lacked the promised star power, but we managed to stay on top of things.

Fred Prouser

An average day ran from 3-4 assignments, leaving time in between to transmit and get from point A to point B. Assignments ranged from ‘working the street’ with our  ‘P-word’ colleagues looking for stars loaded with free gear, to 5 minute portrait sessions with cast members or an individual star during which time we would try to shoot as many portrait pictures as possible.  Overall the file was good and  varied and it was really encouraging to see our pictures being displayed online by our major clients.

Mario Anzuoni

With the exception of a few chilly hours waiting for the talent to arrive and my toes almost falling off, it was an enjoyable experience and a pretty relaxed way to meet upcoming filmmakers and actors and get some rare intimate portrait sessions with the established Hollywood glitterati. Talking with Dennis Hopper about his famous Pabst Blue Ribbon line from the film “Blue Velvet” and trading jokes with William H. Macy were some of my more entertaining moments in the portrait sessions.  I was also amused at how badly Josh Hartnett’s entourage teased him about his sunglasses.  Mario too chatted to Dennis Hopper while making pictures of him on the slopes smoking a cigar and Fred got to watch Mischa Barton have a snowball fight. 

Fred Prouser

My second Sundance added a lot of experiences to the list of things I never thought I would ever do and that can’t be bad. From here it’s back to Fashion Week, moving to Brooklyn and wondering if the writers strike will torpedo the upcoming award season.

Onward to Brooklyn!