Jim Carrey - Close Up

[carreyd away]

From Entertainment Weekly June 17, 2005

Face Time
How Martin Schoeller takes photos -- The renowned photographer talks about his ''big head'' portrait technique by Michael Kochman

''With regular people, it's not so hard to take an honest picture,'' notes photographer Martin Schoeller, ''but celebrities tend to always be posing. Actors never stop acting. It's hard to get a picture that feels like you're seeing the person and not just the face they are putting on.''

Hard, but not impossible, as Schoeller — a frequent ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY contributor and one of the most in-demand editorial photographers working today — demonstrates in his new book, Close Up ($55, teNeues Publishing). The 112-page tome displays 75 famous faces — culled from more than 300 shoots between 1996 and the present — in incredibly tight portraits that are stunning for their intimacy and unretouched honesty. Forced out of their comfort zones by what Schoeller, 37, calls ''an uncomfortable situation where it's bright and the lights are really kind of close,'' his subjects reveal a humanity rarely seen in modern portraiture.

The German-born Schoeller developed and refined his ''big head'' portrait technique, as he describes it, while working as an assistant to photographer Annie Leibovitz in the mid-'90s. He set out on his own in 1996 with the intention of creating photos that ''are more than just pretty colors and nice lighting and interesting clothes.'' He adds, ''I never had a problem getting close to people, and I think that's what it comes down to: Your personality comes through in your pictures.''

Here, Schoeller shares his insights on a selection of portraits from Close Up, though he insists that it's not his job to judge his subjects. ''The judging,'' he says, ''is up to the viewer.''

Caption reads: Jim Carrey He Made a lot of funny faces, so I'm glad I got an inbetween moment when he wasn't spinning his eyes or making a crazy face. There's some torment in the picture. He has a lot of depth to him.

It also has photos of Chuck Berry, Prince, Tammy Faye Bakker, Angelina Jolie, Usher, Colin Farrell and others.

You're welcome ladies

[cableclair]

HEYYY I browsed through that book YESTERDAY . Every picture has the exact same pose, a straight on closeup of the face, Jack Nickelson is on the cover and me being me I always have to browse a coffeetable photobook to check if Jim is in it, oogle at it for minutes and smile, to then put it back because coffeetable photobooks are way over my budget.

[samurai_cable]

That is a really cool picture Thanks so much for that~!!

[Janel]

A relative of mine was in a situation where he had the opportunity to meet Jim a few years ago. He said that as Jim shook his hand he looked into his eyes and he described the experience as "completely disarming". He said that he felt like Jim had looked into his soul, was completely focused on the moment, unlike the many other celebs he has met. That picture is fabulous. Thanks, carreyd away!!

[quirky]

He said that he felt like Jim had looked into his soul, was completely focused on the moment

That I can believe for some reason. I think that's why a minimal fan, turned into a big one. Or as fluffy calls us...deluded obsessionals.

[lammy]

I beg to differ Quirky, I am not obssssseeddd with the man... I actualy feel for him and I wish him the best because he is not getting any younger- I wish I could stop him from aging-I wish I could stop everyone from aging-

[quirky]

I was kidding around. He looks better as he gets older. He has very soulful eyes.

[Canadian Jayne]

To me his face is so familiar to me.
Strange!

[Lana]

this is one heck of a pic , his eyes are the most beautiful eyes i've ever seen.thanks for the pic.

[Nicole Fiction]

I've been a subscriber to Entertainment Weekly for over a year now. I recently got that issue in the mail. Jim hasn't been in that mag lately, so seeing his face so unexpectedly was a nice suprise. A unique and great pic of him, too.

[fluffy]

beg to differ Quirky, I am not obsessed with the man... I actualy feel for him and I wish him the best because he is not getting any younger- I wish I could stop him from aging-I wish I could stop everyone from aging-

_________________
lol.............well i for one don't have any issue with him aging.............lol..........i think he gets hotter by the year........and by that equation he'll be one hell of a sexy pensioner............
Experience and knowledge are sexy...........age increases and develops both............so age makes you sexier...........

Quirky......... and

as for deluded obsessionals

nope...........i'm neither......lol......i have no delusions of grandeur there...lol............i'm more likely to gaze upon God himself than Jim.... ..........
plus i doubt i'm his type anyhow.......intelligent, funny, independent, challenging, blonde, stacked...Cheeky...lol.........nope.....not his type at all....lol........i'd be too much like hard work........

fluffy

[fluffy]

It's a nice picture.............the best ones are usually done slightly off guard..........when you have the pic posed, lighting great and you talk to the person..........they're not quite ready....a millisecond out........but enough to capture the essense of the person rather than their character...........

Fluffy

[roz]

the picture was realy cool

[mav]

Nice close-up. Belated thanks, Carreyd_Away!

One may age and the face wrinkle, but the eyes don't! I see old people's eye's and it is invariably the best feature I find in young and old alike...

[fluffy]

It was in the Sinday....(oops Sunday ) ...telegraph this week......some of the photos are almost shockingly revealing....when you strip away the artifice there remains a visually unimpressive individual......Chris Walken looks terrible........and Jackie Stallone just awful.......she looks as though a couple of tarantulas have taken up residence in her eyes.....
But Jimmy.......his photo works......he looks stripped clean of Jim Carrey the Funnyman and becomes James Eugene Carrey the man........
it's an honest picture.....it shows depth to the MAN......not the Star......
In fact such is it's simple honesty that he looks even more handsome in it.......If he were Joe average...he would still be incredibly handsome....he doesn't need the stylists and make up artists......

he can just be himself and still be amazing........... He's a class act..
Fluffy