‘The Godfather’: Capturing the Corleones Through the Lens of Photographer Steve Schapiro

 

Via Collider

"The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in the history of cinema. And with the original film celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Paramount Pictures is releasing a special anniversary edition of the entire trilogy on 4K Ultra HD on March 22. Ahead of the release, Collider has gotten an exclusive look at some of the bonus content available with the 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition and the re-released trilogy. You can now take a look inside the film and behind the scenes with the late, legendary photographer Steve Schapiro who captured several stunning and intimate moments on the set of The Godfather in 1971.

Schapiro passed away earlier this year, but his legacy continues on through the photos he took. He captured many incredible images during his lifetime, including several iconic shots from the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s. In the 1970s, he was hired by Paramount Pictures as their on-set photographer. He would go on to immortalize scenes within movies like The Godfather, Chinatown, and Taxi Driver, as well as exclusive off-camera moments of actors and crew members at work. In the behind-the-scenes featurette, which you can watch below, Schapiro discusses some of his favorite shots from his work on The Godfather." --Collider

Remembering Steve Schapiro

Steve Schapiro at one of his many exhibitions held at Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM

Photo by ©R. David Marks

Steve Schapiro died peacefully on January 15 surrounded by his wife, Maura Smith, and son, Theophilus Donoghue in Chicago, Illinois after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 87. 

The New York Times: Steve Schapiro, Photojournalist Who Bore Witness, Dies at 87

“You didn’t get the sense from his photographs that Steve was even in the room,” Sidney Monroe, co-owner of a photojournalism gallery in Santa Fe, N.M., that exhibited Mr. Schapiro’s work, said in an interview.

CNN: 'His images moved minds': The legacy of Steve Schapiro

BLIND Magazine: Steve Schapiro, Chronicler of 20th Century America, Dies At 87

The Times UK: Steve Schapiro obituary - Acclaimed photographer whose subjects ranged from Martin Luther King to Barbra Streisand

People: Steve Schapiro, Photojournalist Who Shot PEOPLE's First Cover, Dies at 87: 'His Talent Defied Genres'

Chicago Sun Times: Photographer Steve Schapiro, whose photos captured civil rights, arts ‘time capsules,’ dead at 87

Los Angeles Times: Photojournalist Steve Schapiro, who died last week, left images that reach into the soul of history

ArtDaily: Photographer Steve Schapiro has died at age 87

Pro Photo Daily: What We Learned This Week: Steve Shapiro, Acclaimed Photojournalist, Dies at 87

Chicago Tribune:  Chicago photographer Steve Schapiro is dead at 87. He captured the world with his camera, from the civil rights era to De Niro.

Variety: Steve Schapiro, Photojournalist and Film Industry Photographer, Dies at 87

The Guardian UK: Ali to Andy W: Steve Schapiro’s life in photography – in pictures

Washington Post: Steve Schapiro, Prize Winning Photographer, Dies at 87

ABC News: A prize-winning photographer whose indelible images ranged from civil rights marches to the set of “The Godfather” and other films, Steve Schapiro has died at age 87

US News: Steve Schapiro, Prize-Winning Photographer, Dies at 87

Hollywood Reporter: Steve Schapiro, Acclaimed Photojournalist, Dies at 87

STEVE SCHAPIRO: Once Upon A Time In America

Steve Schapiro: Entering Montgomery, Selma March, 1965

One of the most respected American documentary photographers, Steve Schapiro has photographed American history, and the fractured fabric of contemporary American life, over the last five decades. The list of people Steve Schapiro has photographed during his career reads like a Who's Who of the most influential politicians, celebrities and newsmakers in contemporary American history.


Join us Saturday, July 5, from 5 - 7 PM for a public reception with Steve Schapiro for the opening of the new exhibition "Once Upon A Time in America".


Steve Schapiro discovered photography at age of nine at a summer camp. Excited by the camera's potential, he would spend the next decades prowling the streets of his native New York trying to emulate the work of the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Schapiro was a disciple of the great photographer W. Eugene Smith, and shared Smith's passion for black and white documentary work. From the beginning of Schapiro's career, he had already set a mission for himself: to chronicle the "American Life". His career in photography began in 1960 with personal documentary projects on "Arkansas Migrant Workers" and "Narcotics Addiction in East Harlem". Schapiro became involved in many civil rights stories including the Selma March and covering Martin Luther King; he traveled with Bobby Kennedy on his Senate campaign and Presidential campaign; and did photo essays on Haight Ashbury, the Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation, and Protest in America. He photographed Andy Warhol and the New York art scene, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, poodles, beauty parlors, and performances at the famous Apollo Theater in New York. He also collaborated on projects for record covers and related art. As picture magazines declined in the 1970's and 80's he continued documentary work but also produced advertising material, publicity stills and posters for films, including, The Godfather, Rambo, The Way We Were, Risky Business, Taxi Driver, and Midnight Cowboy.

Related: The Santa Fe Reporter  Once Upon a Time… Veteran photog Steve Schapiro serves up poignant history

Steve Schapiro: Then And Now at Kunsthalle Rostock

Muhammad Ali, Monopoly, Louisville, Kentucky from the book Steve Schapiro: Then and Now © 2012 Steve Schapiro

Via Le Journal de la Photographie


Steve Schapiro is the photographer behind countless now-classic portraits of rock stars, film stars and politicians from the 1960s and 70s. He is also an accomplished documentary photographer who recorded many of the greatest political and social upheavals of our times. While working as a 'special photographer' for the film studios, he designed several iconic film posters, most notably for Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver and The Godfather III. His extraordinary access has been the hallmark of an illustrious career.

Slideshow here

A retrospective of Schapiro's work opens at the Kunsthalle Rostock, Museum of Modern Art in Germany is on view until May 5, 2013. The show, which is curated by Dr. Ulrick Ptak, presents 160 photographs, many of them recently published for the first time in Schapiro's critically acclaimed retrospective Steve Schapiro: Then and Now (Hatje Cantz). The exhibition and companion book look back at Schapiro's diverse half-century career spanning 1961 to 2011. They portray the celebrities and politicians who shaped a generation, as well as new and unseen documentary work focusing on the marginalized and unidentified people on the street.

Then and Now includes whimsical portraits of the stars: Robert De Niro in full Taxi Driver combat costume, posed in front of his cab with a Mohican and an improbably chirpy smile; Jack Nicholson, nose bandaged, tongue out at the camera on the set of Chinatown; and Marlon Brando, grinning with theatrical devilishness while being made up for The Godfather.

Also gathered are portraits that include artists René Magritte, Nico, and Andy Warhol; film directors Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorcese; film stars Drew Barrymore, Mia Farrow, Jodie Foster, Dustin Hoffman, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman and Robert Redford; and musicians David Bowie, Ray Charles, Simon and Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, and Ike and Tina Turner.

When Schapiro started shooting in the sixties, it was the golden age of photojournalism. Schapiro's extensive work in this genre include his depiction of migrant workers in Arkansas, drug addicts in East Harlem, freedom bus riders, the Selma March to Montgomery, Alabama with Martin Luther King, Jr., and presidential campaigns, most notably that of Robert F. Kennedy. Among his most striking works is a triptych that presents photographs Schapiro took in Memphis in 1968 the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. while on assignment for Life. Schapiro was the only photographer to capture the ominous handprint of King's assassin on the wall above the bathtub in the boarding house bathroom from where the fatal shot was fired.

The thread that connects all of Schapiro's photographs is his humanistic approach to his work. Whether shooting a celebrity or an anonymous person he is searching for that iconic moment. In his essay in the book, curator and author Matthias Harder writes that Schapiro's work reflects "the spirit of the times. It is not only his famous individual photos and groups of works from his engagement with Hollywood that ensure him a firm place in the history of photography of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, but also the diversity of his subjects and the sovereign, continuing mastery of them over such a long period of time."

Born and raised in New York City, Steve Schapiro started taking photographs at age ten while at summer camp. He attended Amherst College and graduated from Bard College, and studied photography with the legendary W. Eugene Smith. As a budding photographer, he got an early break: an assignment from Life magazine. He has never stopped working since. His work has been published in prestigious magazines and on numerous covers around the world, including Life, Look, Vanity Fair, Paris Match, People, and Rolling Stone. Schapiro's photographs were included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1968 exhibition Harlem On My Mind. His work can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian, The High Museum of Art, and the National Portrait Gallery. Schapiro's recent solo shows were in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, London and Paris. The Fotografiska Museum in Stockholm, Sweden presented a retrospective of his work in the spring of 2012. An exhibition of his work entitled Schapiro: Living America opened at the Center for Photography Lumiere Brothers, Moscow in the fall of 2012, and included 180 images.


Exhibition
Steve Schapiro: Then And Now
From March 24th to May 5th, 2013
Kunsthalle Rostock
Hamburger Strasse 40
D-18069 Rostock
Germany
Telephone: 0049 381 7000

Book
Steve Schapiro: Then And Now
ISBN: 97837757344264
Hbk, 9.75 x 12.25 inches
240 pages; 174 photographs
(128 black & white; 46 color)
$70 US

Photojournalist Steve Schapiro's Contrasting Life

Steve Schapiro: Martin Luther King Marching for Voting Rights with John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy, Selma, 1965


Via CNN

December 12, 2012

Photographer Steve Schapiro's five decade career of classic photos displayed in new book, ‘Then and Now’

During his five-decade career, photographer Steve Schapiro likes to say he has photographed everything from presidents to poodles. Schapiro has captured the special moments of rock stars, film stars and politicians of the 60's and '70's as well as photos of migrant workers and the Selma March with Martin Luther King. In his new photobook "Then and Now" Schapiro compiles some of his best and most iconic images. The book contains more than 170 photos – some of which have never been published before. He joins “Stating Point” this morning to discuss some of his most iconic photos and his new book.

Video link here.
 

Schapiro says it has always interested him, “to capture all the different elements that make up our country.” He tells the story behind him capturing an iconic photo of Actor Marlon Brando when he was hired to photograph “The Godfather.” Schapiro says, “Brando let me photograph his makeup session… and in the middle of it he just gave me this wonderful look which luckily I caught.” Reminiscing on a picture he took of Actor Dustin Hoffman leaping in a narrow hallway he says, “[Dustin] is a delight. He is a delight on and off camera. He just has such spirit and you know such wonderful feeling and humor all the time…This was just a moment after they had been feeling and it just was a spontaneous event.”

Schapiro admits that he always wanted to be a “Life Magazine” photographer and “one of the things that interested [him] was the migrant worker situation in America.” He talks about his very first story where he spent four weeks documenting the lives of the migrant workers through his photos and an essay and reflects on one particular photo of a cabin wall where a child once wrote “I love anybody who loves me".

Steve Shapiro: Sixties icons depicting a time of change in the United States

Steve Schapiro: The Whisper I, Marlon Brando in "The Godfather"

Steve Schapiro 16 March - 27 May 2012
Swedish Museum of Photography ( Fotografiska)

                   

The American photographer Steve Schapiro was present during the political and cultural changes in the US in the 1960s. As a young photojournalist, Schapiro received commissions for Life magazine, which, among other things, included following Martin Luther King until the day he was murdered. Schapiro played Monopoly with the then unknown boxer Muhammad Ali and hung out with Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground in The Factory in Manhattan. At the time, Schapiro had no inkling that his photographs depicted people who were to become some of the icons of the Sixties. In his unique images, Schapiro captured the character and charisma of his subjects. He calls his series of photographs of the icons of the Sixties Heroes, a photojournalistic term denoting the picture chosen by a picture editor for a cover of a magazine. In the exhibition, the Sixties icons are presented side by side, depicting a time of change in the United States.

Steve Schapiro’s perhaps best known pictorial series include his unique stills from the classic movies The Godfather (1972) and Taxi Driver (1976). In the 1970s, Schapiro was hired to take exclusive photographs during the filming of Francis Ford Coppola’s and Martin Scorsese’s archetypal movies. As a still photographer, Schapiro depicted the shoots from unique angles and his photographs portray the drama, the scenes and the actors, all at the same time. The photographs capture and freeze classic film scenes, such as the whisper into Marlon Brando’s ear, the kiss with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, gun in hand, talking to his reflection in the mirror, and a young Jodie Foster walking the streets of New York. The photographs balance between fiction and reality and are today regarded as legendary in film history.

Steve Schapiro (b. 1934 in Brooklyn) began taking photographs at the age of ten. Trained by the renowned photojournalist W Eugene Smith, Schapiro received commissions for magazines such as Life, Time, Rolling Stone, People and Newsweek. Schapiro has worked on over 200 feature films, including TheGodfather, Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy, and has exhibited widely internationally and now lives in Chicago.

Steve Schapiro, Hollywood's child

©Steve Schapiro "Brando with the cat"

Via La Lettre de la Photographie

 

A selection of Steve Schapiro’s pictures taken behind the scenes during filming of “The Godfather” and “Taxi Driver” will be on display at the A. Gallery in Paris until May 14, 2011.


In 1971, when Francis Ford Coppola began working on “The Godfather”, Steve Schapiro was a young photographer, 37 years old, known for his work published in Life, Look, Newsweek, and on movie sets. It is for this reason that Paramount offered him exclusive coverage of the making of “The Godfather”. This unique status provided him access to an exceptional “cast”, capturing the private moments with Brando that would become the film’s iconic images. His reputation would certainly contribute, four years later, to his being named official set photographer for Martin Scorcese’s new movie, “Taxi Driver”. There too, Steve Schapiro’s pictures would become icons. Robert de Niro (Travis Bickle) pointing his gun in front of a mirror, or Jodie Foster (Iris) waiting in front of a hotel entrance.

©Steve Schapiro "The Whisper"

These 35 enlargements (40 × 50cm or 75 × 100cm) are the renowned pictures hanging on the walls of the A. Gallery. Slide show here.

Pictures from the sets of “Midnight Cowboy” and “Chinatown” will also be on display at the A. Gallery. Several recent and to be published books are also featuring his photographs. “Schapiro’s Heros”, 2007, Powerhouse Books, and “The Godfather Family Album”, a collection of set pictures from the “Godfather” saga, published by Taschen. “Taxi Driver” also published by Taschen and “Chinatown” soon to be released by the same editor.



Bernard Perrine

Correspondant for The Institut of France

Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Steve Schapiro “You talkin’ to me ?”
Until May 14

A. galerie
Rue Léonce Reynaud, 12
75116 Paris

Links
http://www.a-galerie.fr/exhibitions.php


Related: Steve Schapiro: American Edge and review in ARTnews

SPECIAL FILM FESTIVAL EXHIBIT FOR BRIAN HAMILL

Brian Hamill: Diane Keaton and Woody Allen, 59th Street Bridge, New York, 1978, "Manhattan"

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to welcome Brian Hamill for a very special exhibit in conjunction with the Santa Fe Film Festival, which takes place October 22 - 24. There will be a public reception with Brian Hamill on Friday, October 22, 5-7 PM at Monroe Gallery of Photography.

On exhibit will be a selection of Hamill's photographs from the sets of  movies, including Raging Bull, Annie Hall, and Manhattan. Additionally, an exclusive series of intimate photographs of John Lennon will be on exhibit, coinciding with the anniversary of what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday and the screening of LENNONNYC at the Santa Fe Film Festival October 23. (Brian Hamill will introduce the film.)

Brian Hamill: Robert DiNiro,"Raging Bull", 1979

Additionally, Monroe Gallery has curated an exclusive exhibit of photographs from the sets of classic movies for the festival venue, Center for Contemporary Arts.

Steve Shapiro: Homage, The Godfather

Brian Hamill was born in Brooklyn, NY and studied photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In the late 1960s, Hamill began a career as a photojournalist covering the Rock & Roll scene as well as the boxing world. He also worked as an assistant to several top fashion photographers. In the early 1970s he traveled to Northern Ireland to photograph the troubles there, and widened his scope into unit still photographer jobs on movie sets. Since then he has worked as a unit still photographer on over seventy-five movies including twenty-six Woody Allen films, resulting in the much acclaimed coffee table photo book entitled “Woody Allen At Work: The Photographs of Brian Hamill". Hamill’s work has also appeared in numerous other books, publications and exhibitions including a one-man show at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1995.

Steve Schapiro: Robert DiNiro, Taxi Driver, 1975 (Enlarged Contact Sheet)

More about the Santa Fe Film Festival here.

JUST PUBLISHED BY TASCHEN: THE GODFATHER FAMILY ALBUM; Photos by Steve Schapiro

An offer you can't refuse.

Steve Schapiro: Homage, The Godfather

"It's dangerous to be an honest man." —Michael Corleone, Godfather III

As special photographer on the sets and locations of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, Steve Schapiro had the remarkable experience of witnessing legendary actors giving some of their most memorable performances. Schapiro immortalized Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton in photos that have since become iconic images, instantly recognisable and endlessly imitated. Gathered together for the first time in this book are Schapiro's finest photographs from all three Godfather films, lovingly reproduced from the original negatives. With contextual essays and interviews covering the trilogy in its entirety, this book from Taschen contains over 400 color and black & white images.

Schapiro's images take us behind the scenes of this epic and inimitable cinematic saga, revealing the director's working process, capturing the moods and personalities involved, and providing insight into the making of movie history.

Previously restricted to 1,000 Limited Edition copies, this is the unlimited trade edition for cinephiles and 'family' members on a budget! More details here.

About the photographer:

Steve Schapiro is a distinguished journalistic photographer whose pictures have graced the covers of Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, Look, Paris Match, and People, and are found in many museum collections. He has published two books of his work, American Edge and Schapiro's Heroes. In Hollywood he has worked on more than 200 motion pictures; his most famous film posters are for Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver, Parenthood, and The Godfather Part III. His photographs are currently featured in a retrospective exhibition at Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, through June 27.

About the editor:


Paul Duncan has edited 50 film books for TASCHEN, including the award-winning The Ingmar Bergman Archives, and authored Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick in the Film Series.