Fans of actor Jeff Bridges are used to seeing him in front of the camera, but not very many know what a whiz he is behind the lens. If you don’t believe me, head to a local bookstore. That’s where I found a coffee table book filled with some of Bridges’ best still photographs.
The book focuses on behind-the-scenes moments captured on film sets with co-stars such as Jane Fonda, Robin Williams and Michelle Pfeiffer. (By the way, after viewing the book I learned that the actor is donating profits from it to the Motion Picture and Television Fund, a charity that aids those in the movie industry.) In an interview Bridges did promoting the book he revealed that his passion for photography started when he was a child and his parents created a dark room in their home for him. His love for taking pictures was then rekindled in the mid-1970s when he was filming a remake of “King Kong.”
“I guess my character had a camera on him,” Bridges said. “And I thought, ‘Oh well, why not just throw some film in there and take some pictures.’ And that kind of got me re-hooked on my photography.”
The actor-turned-photographer says he shoots with a Wide Lux camera that has a 28mm lens, which pans nearly 180 degrees. Bridges’ says he prefers panoramic shots because they “encompass much more than a conventional photo.”
The 54-year-old star of hits including “The Fabulous Baker Boys” says that camera helped capture a number of candid shots of pals Cybil Shepard, William H. Macy, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Michelle Pfeiffer. The book also includes candid shots of some of Bridges’ favorite directors: Peter Bogdonavich checking a shot for “Texasville,” the sequel to the “Last Picture Show”; Francis Ford Coppola getting a head massage from actress Joan Allen on the set of “Tucker”; and then there’s the photo of Julianne Moore in a dream sequence from “The Big Lebowski.”
Reviews of Bridges’ work have been positive. Most critics agreed that Bridges’ work is more than musings of an amateur photographer.
One critic called Bridges’ photos “disciplined” and “beautifully designed.” While another commented that the actor’s pictures are “incredibly atmospheric.”
What I enjoyed most about Bridges’ pictures is that they let you see things that you wouldn’t normally know were happening on the set of a movie.
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