Photographers Blog

Editing the Oscars

Reuters photo editors Peter Jones and Sam Mircovich explain the process of transmitting hundreds of images from Hollywood’s premier event – the 84th Academy Awards. Photos created by Mike Blake in the Oscar photo room are quickly sent from camera to editor, reaching clients around the world.

Click here for a look at photographers covering all angles of the red carpet.

Red carpet moments

Tuxedo-clad photographers and editors come together for Hollywood’s most anticipated night – the 84th Academy Awards. Mario Anzuoni, Lucas Jackson and Lucy Nicholson take spots on the congested red carpet to capture the styles of the stars, looking for glamour, intimacy and surprising moments.

In this multimedia piece, Lucas turns the camera toward the photographers themselves.

Oscar photographers:

Mario Anzuoni – Arrivals 2

Mike Blake – Photo Room

Gary Hershorn – Awards Show

The room where no one says cheese

You’ve just won your Oscar, given your acceptance speech to the world and are whisked off stage. The world watching on television goes to a commercial break as you are escorted off to meet the press, first stop “The Photo Room”.

You come around a corner and step up onto a 60-foot long low-rise stage. Behind you are three 10-foot golden Oscar statuettes, each surrounded by a bouquet of colorful flowers. In front of you is a grandstand of 60 well-dressed photographers who all want you to hold up your award and look at them, and no one says cheese.

In actuality “The Photo Room” has very little to do with the art of photography on Oscar night. We have all come in days prior and hung strobe lights, tested power packs, synced our data feeds out of our digital cameras, inputed IPTC codes, selected the IP addresses back to our editors and tweaked our lighting from edge to edge. On Oscar night it’s all about the winner looking at you.

So the photographers yell: “to your left,” “to your right,” “over here,” “kiss the trophy,” “look up,” “look down” and “it’s me.”

They yell, I yell, “put the Oscars together” and “get closer.” We are all trying to compose a picture as if we are the only photographer in the room and have the undivided attention of the winner and their magical award.

Red carpet review

Sam Mircovich

Feb 24, 2009 17:29 EST

Another Oscar week has come and gone, and Reuters News Pictures was there on the red carpet covering the biggest night in Hollywood. Staff Photographer Mario Anzuoni talks about how he approaches the mayhem on the busiest red carpet in the world, and shares his coverage plan, with Sam Mircovich, Editor in Charge, Global Entertainment Pictures

Sam Mircovich – Mario, Lets start with your work history, and how you got into shooting entertainment.

Mario Anzuoni – I started as a contract photographer for “Il Mattino”, in Naples Italy, where I covered hard news and features. Part of my daily beat was to cover mob killings, and I remember one time I arrived at a crime scene where the mother showed up before the police. She just pulled up a chair over her son’s body and started praying over her son. It was a touching photo.  Another time I snuck into one of the biggest cemeteries in Naples on a tip that it was poorly maintained, and I found open coffins and exposed remains, because of the neglect. I was purely a news photographer and had never covered entertainment before.

SM – That’s quite a leap, from hard news coverage to entertainment, how did it happen?

MA – Well, I applied to become a staff photographer in Los Angeles for one of the biggest Italian photo agencies, La Presse. I got the job the same day I applied and was on my way to California. When I arrived in Los Angeles, I discovered I was the only person in the bureau, and I had to quickly develop managerial skills and set up their office. I had to learn how to credential and develop contacts, basically start from scratch. It was quite a challenge. I worked for them for three years.

SM – And then you got hired by the Splash Agency, notorious for their paparazzi work. How did that sit with you?