Sunday, February 25th, 2007
Pre Oscar musings from the NYT’s Carpetbagger
by Warren
The New York Times is covering the Oscars via a blog called “The Carpetbagger,” and the pre-event article pretty much sums up my thoughts on taking pictures of celebrities at big entertainment spectacles and awards ceremonies. I’ve only done the Geminis, which is the low-rent Canadian television version of the Emmys, but the article hits home on a number of points, such as the fact that very little actual reporting goes on, and that some people are secretly (or not so secretly) excited at seeing and photographing a bunch of celebs, and some (like the Carpetbagger himself) aren’t as blown away by the star power on display.
I fall firmly into the second camp….though I’ve taken some pictures of celebrities while I’ve been doing my Metro gig, I found that any sense of nervousness (or for that matter, shame) approaching them for a photo or interview evaporates pretty quickly when it’s your job. Doesn’t stop me from taking the odd triumphantly nerdy photo, but generally it’s just a gig.
Still, I think that’s probably why tonight, for the first time in a decade, I’m not going to bother watching the Oscar telecast. Having seen similar pomp and circumstance firsthand, I’m pretty much satisfied to check the results on the net when I get home from dinner with friends. And since Return of the King swept the Oscars when it was nominated, my sense of nerd justice was long ago satisfied.
Still, we’ve had pretty good comment threads in previous years during the Oscars, so feel free to throw in your rants, raves, praise and derision at this year’s Bill Conti-scored mayhem.