The Life and Times of Michael Grecco

For a certain generation of individuals, the Time-Life Library of Photography book series was a huge inspiration for choosing a career path in photography. This amazing 18-book series covered nearly every aspect of photographic application, with a heavy accent on what was just then being accepted in galleries and museums as fine art photography. One such converted wannabe actually went on to photograph numerous covers for Time magazine himself. His name is Michael Grecco.

"I developed my aesthetic through those Time-Life books as a kid," Grecco recalls.

"I knew I wanted to be one of those people."

Grecco is an admitted self-taught photographer who recalls as a
12-year-old seeing "the print miraculously arising out of the developer in the darkroom. "It was magic," he says.

Yes, Grecco is a lot like many photographers who fell into the allure of finding something special when they discovered photography, and he is one who eventually saw his dream come true.

Starting out as a photojournalist in the Boston area, Grecco has since moved to Los Angeles where he has established himself as one of the entertainment industry's most respected portrait photographers. From advertising to editorial, he is known for his ability to capture the essence of his subjects, and to do so in striking and memorable fashion. While his advertising clients include NBC/Universal, GE, HBO, and Pfizer, his editorial assignments have put his work on the pages of Esquire, Premiere, MAXIM, Time, and Wired magazines.

We had the opportunity to talk with Michael Grecco recently and ask him how his career in photography evolved from a fledgling photojournalist into a shooting star in his own right.

How or where did you learn photography?

We learn though all of our experiences. I started my career as a photojournalist. That taught me about the world of newspaper journalism and how important content is. I then moved to L.A. and worked on many film sets. That taught me about lighting and controlling your environment. As I moved to portraiture I took both of those things with me, the need for content and style.

How would you describe your lighting style?

I would describe my lighting style as being as dependent on shadow as it is on light. I hate over lighting, it rarely feels right to me. There are cases for even light, but for the most part it is the mystery and depth of the shadows that I crave.

Who was the first celebrity that you were assigned to shoot, and how did that go?

Well, I used to shoot celebrities for the newspapers. I worked for some newspapers in between working in photojournalism and in magazine portraiture. That said, the first big shoot I remember was with Glenn Close for USA Today. I had to shoot her during a press junket at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. I asked her to get up on a table while shooting and that was a big thing for me. I had to do something to make the picture more interesting.

You seem equally adept shooting on location and in the studio. Do you have a preference, or could you elaborate on the differences?

I love both. The best is to have depth and concept in the shot; so for me, shooting in a studio with a well-designed set is always the best. The amount of control over the environment is amazing. On the other hand, you can achieve the same thing on location and locations do have more of an unpredictable character that makes them interesting.

What kind of an experience is a Time magazine cover shoot and how would you describe the pressures to come up with a timely shot?

There can be a lot of pressure, but for every cover you see on the magazine, they might have two, three, or four more that week shot by other photographers. Maybe not with today's budgets, but in the past Time used to make sure they had choices for the weekly cover.

When I shot Spielberg, I knew it was a big deal because I was the only one shooting him and that it would for sure make it to the cover. In other cases when I was shooting, it was a concept shoot where many photographers were all shooting different variations to get the same concept across and you know you only have an outside chance of actually making it to the cover. I think it would be interesting sometime to do a book or a show of all the covers that did not make the cover.