When I started working as a still photographer on film sets, there was a lot more freedom than there is today, the set was an atmospheric place. There was something great and exciting about seeing a director on set and behind a camera. I would often have several weeks of free access to photograph everything behind the scenes. I was able to make candid photographs in a way that would be virtually impossible now with green screens, blue screens, and video assists.
The first film I worked on was Alice's Restaurant. There, I met Joanna Ney at United Artists, and through her, I was asked to work on a Fred Zinnemann film, He was going to shoot Man's Fate, but the studio canceled the film at the last minute, when I was already on my way to Singapore. They offered to send me to work on a Fellini film to make up for the canceled job. I jumped at the chance. That's how I ended up working with Fellini, which was the start of over forty years of photographing movies.
Fellini is one of my favorite directors. His sense of story, drama, imagination, camera, lighting, costume, and set design is unmatched. Fellini's world was extraordinary; every day something amazing would happen. Sometimes he would get very excited and yell at everyone in sight. And then he would apologize.
Fellini was wonderful in front of the camera. The picture of him with the megaphone (pages 22-23) was taken as he supervised a new set being built. Even though this picture is shot from behind, it is still very much a portrait of Fellini. You don't have to be too literal when photographing people. Photography is not a factual, but a descriptive language. You must translate the scene visually and emotionally. This picture captures very much who Fellini was. He seems to be dancing gracefully, exactly like one of the characters in his films. This was just one moment, one frame, but it speaks to something larger, which is why it has become iconic. That's what you're really trying to do with a portrait, capture who the person is, get a glimpse at the essence of who they really are. Even if someone is on set or in a costume or standing on her head, you have to see beyond that to who they are.
I always tell people, "You don't have to shoot so many pictures; just wait for the moment." You wait until a person is perfectly in your frame, until the gesture is right and the action happens. If I had caught Fellini at a different angle or if he'd turned slightly, the megaphone would have been lost and so would the dance.
If your timing is off, you can miss the photograph.
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Text and photograph:© Mary Ellen Mark
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