Some of my favorite images happen in between scenes, those moments where I don’t have a lot of time to plan, but I am ready with my camera and taking photos.  Dawn Baillie, who designed the mid 90s one sheet, asked me to shoot images of the actors with lots of sky. I set up a time to shoot with Scott Robertson, the first AD and I shot some good images. Sunny Suljic, the lead actor, was curious about how things looked through the fisheye lens, so I gave him my camera and he got down on the ground and shot a few photos of the other actors.  The image of Sunny that was used for the poster was shot a few minutes after we bonded, in between scenes, while Sunny and other actors were setting up. Sunny was on his skateboard and the shadow of the trees made for nice, cinematic, lighting. It looked like Sunny wasn’t needed on set, so I seized the opportunity and asked Sunny if I could shoot a quick photo, I only shot two frames but it was all that was needed - they were both great shots.  

Tobin Yelland

Dawn Baillie

Art Director

BLT Communications

I met Tobin on the set with {writer/director} Jonah Hill, and we talked about a wish -list of shots based on some of Jonah’s favorite 1990’s skateboarding references. Tobin emailed back a few batches of glorious captures, and I then sent him the following email: “Everything is looking AMAZING. The only thing is if you still have the fisheye, maybe a few more fisheye shots from the ground pop with lots of sky?” Tobin then sent back the last set of snaps, and the image we fell in love with was what became the poster. We extended the sky and moved some buildings for cropping. Otherwise, it was perfect. 

My favorite unit stills shoot for 2019 was C’MON C’MON. Mike Mills is one of my favorite directors and I was lucky enough to work on his latest film while he was shooting in Los Angeles. Filmmaking is my favorite team sport. 

I had the pleasure of shooting unit stills on this fine film :) 

Justin Simien

Justin Simien is a writer, director, and producer. In 2014, he wrote and directed his first feature film, the award-winning and critically acclaimed Dear White People, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. There, he received a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent. Simien adapted the film into a Netflix series, which debuted in 2017 and boasts more than 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Bad Hair is his second feature.