NY Times: “Inside Playful Magazine Photo Shoots”

The New York Times features the stories behind a number of their Magazine shoots in a new article, and I'm delighted that my Seth Rogen session opens the piece.

Senior Photo Editor Amy Kellner is generous in her framing of the story behind the cover image, which I remember as more collaborative. Nevertheless, I’ll take it!

"Outside a cabin in Los Angeles last spring, Ms. Kellner faced a conundrum. The prop stylist had ordered more than 100 wildflowers as well as proteas, tulips and artificial flowers so that the comedian Seth Rogen, the subject of a cover shoot, could lie down in them.

But when the photographer, Chris Buck, took test shots from above, he realized that Mr. Rogen’s facial features would appear distorted from that angle. So Mr. Buck came up with a solution: String the blooms on chicken wire, held up by clamp stands — and ask a standing Rogen to stick his head through. 'He was game,' Ms. Kellner said."

Prop Stylist: Jason Jensen

Times Story by: Sarah Bahr

Top Image: The final image for The New York Times Magazine cover.

Bottom Image: An alternate floral-themed set up.