Winogrand, Garry, et al. Annie on Camera. Nine Photographers by Anne H. Hoy (text).

Abbeville Press, 1982.  Illustrated stiff wraps, very good with crimps upper left of front cover.  Nine photographers, each in a distinctive style, photographed the movie Annie, directed by John Huston, while in production.  The photographers: William Eggleston; Mitch Epstein; Joel Meyerowitz; Jane O'Neal; Stephen Shore; Neal Slavin; Eric Staller; Robert Walker; and Garry Winogrand. 192 pages with informative introductions to each photographer's portfolio by Hoy. Summary:

Annie on Camera: Nine Photographers (1982) is a unique intersection of cinema and fine-art photography. Edited and with an essay by Anne H. Hoy, the book documents a creative experiment where nine world-class photographers were invited to the set of John Huston’s 1982 film Annie to interpret the production through their own distinct lenses.

Key Themes and Creative Concept

• The "Artistic Witness" approach: Rather than traditional "unit still" photography used for marketing, the project encouraged the photographers to treat the film set—a massive, $10 million recreation of 1930s New York—as a found object or a surreal landscape.

• The Nine Perspectives: The book features work by a "who’s who" of 20th-century photography, including:

  • William Eggleston: Known for his pioneering color work, he captured the vivid, saturated textures of the sets.

  • Stephen Shore: Focused on the quiet, architectural details of the Depression-era recreations.

  • Joel Meyerowitz: Utilized his "street photography" sensibility to find candid moments amidst the artificial chaos.

  • Robert Walker, Garry Winogrand, Mitch Epstein, Jane Cortell, Neal Slavin, and Eric Staller: Each contributed a unique stylistic layer, from Winogrand’s tilted, kinetic energy to Staller’s nocturnal light studies.

• Artificial Reality: A central theme of the text is the "doubling" of reality—photographers who usually document the real world were suddenly documenting a meticulously crafted fake world, creating a meta-commentary on the nature of truth in photography.

Significance

Annie on Camera is highly regarded as a rare successful collaboration between Hollywood and the high-art photography world. It serves as both a high-end "making-of" document and a serious portfolio of New Color and Street Photography, showing how the same subject can be radically transformed by different artistic temperaments.