source & photos: [url]http://jpgmag.com/stories/1194[/url]
Photographer Gregory Crewdson shoots his still images as if he were Michelangelo Antonioni channeling Edward Hopper on a movie set. Since he shoots with a Hasselblad Sinar 8x10 camera, his field of composition includes people, sky, cars, streets and buildings. In essence, the scale of his compositions matches the possibilities inherent in the 8x10 camera format.
[IMG]http://c0170361.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/206513_56214_d971c2c249_p.jpg[/IMG]
Gregory wrote in an article entitled "Aesthetics of Alienation" for the Tate Modern Museum that "There are these very ordinary situations, and the light is being used as a narrative code to reveal the story. It also provides some possibility of transformation of the ordinary, which gives the images a certain theatricality." This is the key insight to understand how Gregory creates images that resonate beyond the mere representation of a bar on the corner with a woman sitting outside smoking a cigarette while a car disappears down the street.
I watched the shoot unfold from beginning to end (6 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.) and decided to capture key moments of the process. This image will end up selling for $80,000 to $100,000 per print, in editions of 10, so essentially it's a million dollar shoot every time he decides to compose an image.