50 Celebrity Commentaries

Each intimate photo has a personal viewpoint and critique by a celebrity artist or prominent influencer, in the work of art. Amongst the 50 contributors commenting and critiquing, you will find the words of :

• Ethan Hawke. Four time Academy Award Nominee as an Actor and Writer – Ethan is know for a wide body of film work including Dead Poets Society, Training Day, and Boyhood. He has also been nominated for a Tony Award, is the co-founder of Manhattan’s Malaparte Theatre Company and has two Novels in Publication.

• Vilmos Zsigmond. Director of Photography known as one of the most inventive in the business, with an Oscar Win and 14 other Wins and 15 more nominations. Best known for his seminal work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Deliverance, The Long Goodbye, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Heaven’s Gate, and many more.

• Dante Spinotti. Italian cinematographer, BAFTA Award recipient and two-time Academy Award nominee, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, credited with helping to pioneer the use of high-definition digital video in cinematography. Best known for his films such as LA Confidential, Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Manhunter, The Insider, and many more.

• Russell Carpenter. Cinematographer whose work on Titanic earned him an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, an ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement, a nomination for a BAFTA Award, as well as numerous other accolades. Known for his action work on movies like Charlie’s Angels, XXX, and Ant-Man, as well as his collaborations with directors James Cameron, McG, John Woo, Robert Luketic, and Brett Ratner.

• Lorraine Bracco. The actress’s performance as Karen Hill in Goodfellas brought her fame and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her work on the acclaimed TV series The Sopranos earned her multiple Emmy Award nominations three years in a row and for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2007, and has continued success on crime dramas such as Rizzoli & Isles and Blue Bloods, and many more.

• Marcus Nispel. The German born film, commercial and music video director includes over fifteen #1 hit songs and several breakthrough clips for artists including Puff Daddy, No Doubt, the Fugees, George Michael, Janet Jackson, Elton John, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, Cher, Mariah Carey, and Gloria Estefan, having earned him 12 MTV Music Video Awards nominations, resulting in four wins. Also known for his films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre Remake, Conan The Barbarian, Friday the 13th., Pathfinder, and more…

• Samuel Bayer. Prolific music video and award winning commercial director, known for Nirvana’s music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Blind Melon‘s “No Rain” and videos for Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, The Cranberries, Green Day, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Garbage, The Strokes, Metallica, Ramones, The Smashing Pumpkins, Justin Timberlake and My Chemical Romance.

• Robert Berman. Founder and owner of Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, Robert was early on in exhibiting artists such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring and has done historical and seminal exhibitions by such artists as William S. Burroughs and Man Ray.

• Cosimo Cavallaro. An Artist, Sculptor, and Filmmaker whose cutting-edge Avant Garde experimental and unorthodox work often challenges social conventions normalcy and status quo have gained him national and international recognition as well as raising some eyebrows and creating controversies by covering people in melted cheese for an art installation, including an interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN and Bill Donohue President of the Catholic League.

• Sante D’Orazio. American photographer, known for celebrity portraiture, most notably images of nude supermodels and actresses, got his start working in fashion editorials thanks to Andy Warhol who hired him for Interview magazine, and later worked alongside Lou Bernstein, the renowned photographer and member of New York’s Photo League.

• Alik Sakarhov. Soviet Union born American cinematographer and director, known for shooting The Sopranos, and directing Game of Thrones, Counterpart, and House of Cards.

• John Schwartzman. Academy Award nominated cinematographer and twice nominated for the ASC Award, whose work encompasses some of cinema’s biggest action and comedy blockbusters, including Seabiscuit, Pearl Harbor, The Amazing Spiderman, Armageddon, Meet the Fockers, and Jurassic World.

• Paula Tognarelli. Executive Director and Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography, who has juried and curated exhibitions internationally including American Photo’s Image of the Year, has been a panelist and featured speaker at photography events and conferences, including MacWorld, and is a nominator for the Prix Pictet in Geneva, Switzerland and the Heinz Prize in Pennsylvania.

• Jeff Dunas. American Photographer whose work has appeared in hundreds of magazines, album covers, books and calendars, his principal areas of work have included Nudes, Documentary, Celebrity Portraits and Street Photography. He founded Melrose Publishing Company, Collector’s Editions, Ltd., launched Collectors Photography magazine, published Darkroom Photograph, and is the founder of the Annual Palm Springs Photo Festival.

• Mary Lambert. Director of Films, and Music Videos. Films include, Pet Semetery 1 & 2, and her music videos for Madonna are ranked in VH1’s 100 Greatest Videos: ‘Like A Prayer’, ‘Material Girl’, ‘Like A Virgin’. Other nominated videos include “Dancin” for Chris Isaak, “Would I Lie to You?” for Eurythmics, “Nasty” and “Control” for Janet Jackson. Additional videos include: Mick Jagger, Sting, The Go-Go’s, Motley Crue, Whitney Houston, Alison Krauss, Debbie Harry, Tom Tom Club, Rod Stewart, The Pretenders, Robbie Robertson and others.

• Holden Luntz. Director and principal of the internationally esteemed Holden Luntz Gallery in Palm Beach, Luntz has over three decades experience in the curating, exhibiting, purchasing and selling of vintage and contemporary photography and has helped build photography collections for museums, corporations and private individuals. Some of his photographer showcases have been Irving Penn, Henri Cartier Bresson, Bill Brandt, Brassai, Berenice Abbott, and many more.

• Camryn Manheim. Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe Award-winning actress known for The Practice, Ghost Whisperer, Person of Interest, Criminal Minds, Major Crimes, Chicago, Hope, and Extant, as well as her performance on Tony nominated Spring Awakening and Obie winning performance on Craig Lucas’Missing Persons at the Atlantic Theater Co.

• Daniel Pearl. American cinematographer who has worked on many feature films, hundreds of music videos, and commercials and won the first MTV cinematography award for “Every Breath You Take”, for the rock band, The Police. Known for the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre along with its 2003 remake, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Friday the 13th, Pathfinder. Received the ‘Kodak Vision Hall of Fame Award’, and ‘Music Video Lifetime Achievement Award’.

• Ethan Russell. Multiple Grammy-nominated photographer and director, author of three books. One of the foremost rock and roll photographers in the world, and is the only known rock photographer to have shot album covers for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

• Peter Tunney. Peter has curated for decades for famed and legendary photographer, diarist, and visionary artist, Peter Beard. He creates in almost every medium: paint, collage, wood, photography, found objects, and discarded materials, and curates & executes transformative art projects for causes, cities and corporations around the world.

• Clint Willour. Curator who has run galleries, juried countless group shows, and served as curator at the Galveston Arts Center, curating nearly 4,000 artists in 469 exhibitions. His legacy reaches far and wide, through museum donations, influence on artists and curators, founding of major public art events.

Forward by Greg Gorman

The forward is by Crescenzo’s friend & fellow esteemed photographer, Greg Gorman – known world-wide for his signature black and white style photographs of celebrities from Bette Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sophia Loren to David Hockney, David Bowie, and Andy Warhol, and many more. Greg is a highly sought out speaker and master within the photographic community, having been recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Professional Photographer’s of America.

Gorman is part of the classical tradition – a legend in the art of photography. He has attained the consummate mastery of light and lighting which also distinguishes the studio photography of Horst P. Horst, George Hurrell, and George Platt Lynes. His photographs have the quality of eminence – a mark of all great portrait photographs – allowing the subject to unfold his or her own personality in front of the lens.” ~ Crescenzo Giacomo Notarile

The Introduction is by Crescenzo’s mentor and fraternal colleague,   Owen Roizman, A.S.C. – whose work as the Director of Photography on such classic films as, The French Connection, The Exorcist, Network, Wyatt Earp and Tootsie, earned him five Academy Award nominations, and his body of work within the Motion Picture Academy and Cinematography community, earned him an honorary Oscar.

About The Creator

Crescenzo Giacomo Notarile is an Emmy award-winning Cinematographer, having photographed over 600 music videos, from artists including: The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, Placido Domingo, N’ Sync, Ricky Martin, Patti Smith, Joan Jett, George Michael, AC/DC, Neil Young, Beyonce, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Billy Joel, Van Morrison, Aerosmith, Weezer, Aretha Franklin, C&C Music Factory, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Nine Inch Nails, and many more.

For the past 32 years. Crescenzo not only has worked on commercials and music videos for directors like Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Sam Raimi (Spiderman), Mary Lambert (Pet Semetery), Russell Mulcahy (Highlander), Hype Williams (Belly), Bob Giraldi (Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’), Marcus Nispel (Texas Chanisaw Massacre Remake), etc., but also works as a director. Crescenzo has lensed several feature films, such as, Bullet (starring Oscar Nominated Mickey Rourke, Oscar Winner Adrien Brody, Tupac Shakur), Time Cop: The Berlin Decision (starring Jason Lee), Truth Be Told (starring Regina King, Blair Underwood).
When the terrorist attacks happened on September 11th, Crescenzo was severely affected and had informed his agent that he no longer wanted to travel around the globe. He was offered to stay home in LA by shooting a television pilot for Jerry Bruckheimer titled Skin. Since then, Crescenzo has been immersed in the television genre with such shows as Hawaii, Ghost Whisperer, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Gotham, and several more.