ZEITmagazin: Hollywood
Last month, I spent a week hiking around Hollywood for new story out now by Claire Beermann in ZEITmagazin all about the ostensible death of Hollywood. The story resulted in not one, but two covers—a dream come true. If you’ve followed the nerdery and evolution of print magazines for any length of time, you’ll know that ZEITmagazine has consistently published some of the world’s best editorial and photojournalistic work since its revival in 2007. That’s a feat made all the more impressive in a world where quality in print (and print in generally) seems to become rarer all the time.
“Hardly any movies are being made in Hollywood anymore. And you can get good entertainment online these days. Why go to the movies? Our author traveled to Los Angeles to tell a tragedy – but found a completely different story.”
The two covers were both results of serendipity. I happened upon a pair of happy dogs waltzing down Hollywood Blvd. and gave one a pet just as they walked over Michelle Pfeiffer’s star. The one on the right, captioned “The fight for the future of Hollywood,” took a little more work. After being turned down for portraits by a dozen tourists, I lucked into a bubbly, talkative girl taking tons of selfies in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. It turned out she was from Bremen and happy to mug for the camera when she heard her photo might be in Die Zeit.
Otherwise, I milled around Hollywood and its environs, from the Walk of Fame to some famous historic eating spots and Tarantino’s two lovingly-restored old cinemas, the Vista and New Beverly, where I made time for a Barbara Stanwyck double-feature. Strapped with a massive camera bag, I also did a grueling late-afternoon hike to the Wisdom Tree and over a long ridge to see the famous Hollywood sign from behind. It’s pretty well fenced-off, but a few barbed-wire chain link fence scratches were worth the view. I was also able to visit the hallowed offices of United Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, where I photographed “super agent” Jeremy Barber. Though we only had a small corner of a conference room to work in, Jeremy was great. He must know absolutely everyone in Hollywood—what a life!
Big gratitude to ZEITmagazin’s Director of Photography, Milena Carstens.
Images made on Hasselblad X2D, Leica SL2 and SL2-S.