Running to Beijing and Brazil with Martin Schoeller

Yesterday I saw my favorite Olympic portrait yet– that of marathon runner Ryan Hall, shot for The New Yorker by Martin Schoeller. I think the use of in-camera tricks like forced perspective are far too rare these days.

Here is the picture:

Is it forced-perspective, or is it some sort of composite? Hall stands 5′ 11”…

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Reminds me of this picture, which I saw several months back, at “The Art of the American
Snapshot” at the National Gallery in DC.

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photographer unknown, gelatin silver print, 1920s.

Seems like a little in-camera tomfoolery was all the rage back when you had no white balance to monkey with.

Speaking of monkeys, while trolling the New Yorker’s site for the picture of Hall, which resulted in FAIL, I did find an excellent slide show of Schoeller’s work with the Pirahã tribe in Northern Brazil.

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Ingenious use of a puppy!

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Here’s a shot of Schoeller at work by his assistant, Markian Lozowchuk.

See more of the work here.

Also, read about Schoeller’s rise in the biz in this excellent interview with Pop Photo. Before he famously assisted Annie Leibovitz, he was but a waiter. You can do it too!

UPDATE:

See Schoeller at work on his Body Builder series:

Here’s one. See more at Ace Gallery.

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Sarah Bridges, 2007

This video is broken down over at Strobist. Check it out.

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