Saturday, August 14, 2010

My Most Famous Capture Yet: Sylvester Stallone

Yep, it's the man himself. The one we love. "Rocky." "First Blood." When a movie's as good as those, you can forgive a guy for "Judge Dredd" or "Over the Top" or "Cobra" (OK, that one might be unforgivable).



I got pretty close to the movie icon at a red carpet event for "The Expendables" (another one that requires forgiveness) at Planet Hollywood here in Las Vegas.

He seemed like a nice guy, and aside from the toupee and eyebrow issues, I think he looks pretty darned good even at this range, even better than onscreen. Anyway, he seemed like a nice guy during our brief encounter.

I'd venture that no other photographer got a shot like this that night. The red carpet is a frenzy of flashes and jostling for position. I am lousy with flash, so while I snag a few with flash, I tend to hang out and get shots without flash as the celebrity moves down the carpet. Tracking them a few extra minutes tends to get photos less flat, and a bit more intimate. (Most pros need to get full-body shots to sell them to the tabloids, etc. Very few give this much emphasis to the face.)

I had the same experience with singer Matt Goss. After all the pros drifted off to other subjects, or their cars to head home, I got this photo, one of my favorites of all time of any celebrity. His fans seem to love it, so that's a nice vindication of my lingering/stalking technique.



Oh, and here's a random piece of Sylvester Stallone trivia: He was in one of Woody Allen's earliest, and funniest films, "Bananas."

2 comments:

-K- said...

Other than a few bits and pieces on cable, i don't think i've ever seen a Staollone movie.

On the other hand, I have seen several interviews with him and seems like a kind of decent guy.

Jonderson said...

K: You really should see First Blood. And Rocky, though for far different reasons. FB is simply a great movie. Rocky is a good movie and a classic example of the 1970's style.

Scott: You forgot to mention SpyKids 3-D. :)