The @latimes_entertainment was doing a story on Jason Segel and his new show, Shrinking, and @himguydude asked me to shoot the portraits (thanks again for the trust and freedom, Brandon).
Though I’m a big fan of Segel’s work (my favorite work from him is his portrayal of David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour), I hadn’t yet seen the show. I watched a few episodes to acclimate myself and drum up concepts for our session. In the show he plays a therapist that’s also wrestling with his own demons. To illustrate this concept I decided to use several techniques that either show multiple sides of Segel in a single frame or create multiple shadows, in an effort to communicate the idea that there are differing layers that exist within his character. I also used low-angled, “monster lighting” to cast tall shadows to make it look like he was actually shrinking. Fun trivia is that I used a piece of salvaged plastic from an old Mac monitor to create the double image of him in slide 8, which felt especially appropriate given that the show is on Apple TV, which is also where the shoot took place.
I want to thank Jason for being so chill and willing to try all of my ideas. The most memorable part of the shoot for me was after we wrapped, when we chatted about David Foster Wallace (I showed him my “this is water” tattoo, which is from a DFW commencement speech) and talked about our mutual efforts to slow down and be more present in life. Truly a shoot I’ll never forget.
Grooming by @kimverbeck
