Peggy Sirota: It’s Just Two People Playing Together

If ever there was a candidate for a Mrs Feelgood, then famed photographer Peggy Sirota’s name would be top of the list. Known for her ebullient attitude and her powers of persuasion in putting her famous subjects at ease in her joyful and idiosyncratic compositions, she was one of the first female photographers to break through in the entertainment industry. Her portraits of actors, musicians, world leaders and athletes alike are brimming with a lyrical energy and childlike playfulness, whilst never coming across as forced or inauthentic. You get the feeling that Robert Downey Jr volunteered to put a toy Ironman into his mouth, or that Jon Hamm truly was grumpily eating fries when Sirota happened upon him in an old diner.

Thirty years down the line, Sirota’s photography still appears regularly in GQ, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and ESPN, and she directs multiple commercials for the likes of L’Oreal, Covergirl, Volvo, GAP, Banana Republic and many more. We talked to Sirota about her journey and process, and asked her to choose and tell the stories behind some of her favorite work capturing the world’s leading men.

When did you decide you wanted to get into photography and why?

I had moved out here [Los Angeles] from New York, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was just flying by the seat of my pants, as I typically did through a lot of my childhood and teenage years. I didn’t have a plan at all, and I needed to make some extra money. I was working at Fred Segal and there were a lot of struggling actors that would shop there. One said, “Peg, why don’t you just shoot pictures of your friends that are working here? They all want to be actors.” And I‘m like, “Oh, okay. Sure. I can do that.” He said, “Buy a camera and I’ll teach you how to use it.” He never taught me how to use it, but he definitely inspired me.

At some point I decided, “Oh, well this is cool. I just want to keep going.” I really didn’t know that there was a whole industry. I never thought, “I’m going to be a photographer.” I just kind of took baby steps, kept going and enjoyed it. I made a little bit of money and luckily, very early on, I had an agent who said to me something that definitely propelled me. She said, “The jobs that you turn down are more important than the jobs that you take, especially early in your career. Don’t take jobs just for money. Take jobs that’ll help you grow and discover who you are as an artist.” And that was really great advice. Her words really stuck with me. I just went from my heart.

Early on, I really had no idea what I was doing, but I had instincts and just stuck to them based on what looked right to me. I was never into the technical aspect of it. Anybody that’s worked with me knows that when someone hands me a camera, I know how to push the trigger, I know how to focus, I know what kind of lighting I like, and then I hand it off and they do all the technical stuff.

When did you realize that you had made it to the top of your profession?

Never. I don’t think that even now, honestly. I think I have always retained this feeling of, ‘Oh, I’m not there yet.’ I swear. Steven Meisel takes an amazing picture and I’m thinking, “I’m never going to be there.”

What responsibility do you feel when taking on an assignment?

I always want to capture something that is real, I never want to fake it. I want people to really come off as being genuine, to find a way to prod people, whatever works for each person. And so at a certain point that became an interesting part of my job. I actually really enjoy that now. I love that some people are difficult. Maybe I’ve matured to a point where I feel really confident. Throw me in with anybody. I think pretty much I can get at least one amazing picture out of almost anybody. And I don’t mean this in a cocky way at all, I mean it purely from a place of experience. I think if your bar is high, you won’t accept walking out of the room empty handed like, “Oh, well. That didn’t really pan out.” That’s just not an option for me, ever. I really have grown to love that challenge, maybe because I’ve had so many of them.

It’s my job to find the good and to find the connection. And some days are more challenging, some people are more challenging. Some people feel like they want everything. They just eat it up and they go and run with it. Those people are awesome to work with and it makes for a really fun day. Part of my challenge is to create something interesting, even when somebody is not. Not everybody has to see a photo or the world my way. It’s not like, “I’m going to come in and make you laugh and dance, or look kind of silly.” No, I have to find what feels genuine to that person.

I go into a lot of these jobs somewhat unprepared, and kind of purposely. I just want to be in the moment with whoever’s in front of me. I don’t want to strategize how I’m going to handle who their last character was or whatever. Just that they are people, that they’re in front of my camera and I’ve got to make some kind of magic happen.

What changes have you seen in recent years?

People are way more concerned about their image now. They were a lot more free years ago. I think it’s the boom of social media. And quite honestly, it’s not as much fun because everybody feels like they have an opinion about what they wear and what the lighting looks like etc. The spontaneity is harder to come by. I’ve done a number of jobs that are just beyond awesome. They’re memorable and fun and so beautiful because it’s an exchange of people that are in the room and they really give themselves. And those have happened recently, but not quite as many as there used to be.

It seems your enthusiasm for your craft has never waned. Is that correct?

Yeah, that’s true. I feel like my job is sending people out of the studio so that when they walk out the door and get in their car, I want them to be able to say to whoever they call first, “Holy shit, that’s what a photo shoot should be like.” I feel like I fail if I don’t do that.

I think it comes from a place of insecurity. As I mentioned, I had no training, never went to school for it, and I never assisted anybody. I just found by trial and error who I was, what my personality had to offer to this craft. What’s going to make people remember this? That became my mission always. And no, it hasn’t changed and it never will. Otherwise I’m just calling it in. I don’t want to set up a chair, create the perfect lighting and have them turn their face a certain way. I love those types of pictures, I’m envious of that sort of photography when it’s done really well, but that’s not my calling. This is, for whatever reason.

Do you prefer men over women to photograph?

No, it just depends on who’s willing to give it up, and just let the preconceived idea of what they should be doing in front of the camera go, and just be in the moment. It’s really interesting to talk to be talking to you about this John, because you’re the person on the other end. You’re the person that I’m talking about, and I’ve never really heard your perspective. I am always trying to go for that, without realizing what it feels like for you.

It’s an exchange. It’s a personality study, to meet people that are willing to be vulnerable. Very raw emotions that get broken down very easily when the person allows that to happen and I guess it is based on trust.

Why did you choose to select these particular shots?

These guys are favorites for a reason. It’s becoming clear to me now choosing these, it’s not just the images that were so special to me, it’s the experience that sits in my head. That’s why these images are important to me. They were born out of something that was really collaborative, really in the moment and genuinely spontaneous and fun.

I love these guys. This has made my career in many ways. These people with so much to offer. You see a lot of these shoots where guys just come in and some of them don’t really know who I am. They don’t do their homework, and their agent says, “Okay, we’re shooting GQ today,” or any of these other magazines, and, “Okay, show up and do that.” And for them to embrace what I want to do, and put more effort into it, that’s a gift to me. I’m so grateful for that, and love these people for doing it. It really has made it really special.

I had to caveat the beginning of this feature by saying I can’t make a complete judgment about a person based on the short time I spend with them. But all these people that I’ve chosen, these top 20, they’re people that have given me a gift. The fact that they trusted me is the gift they gave me. They allowed me to be the artist and kind of mold the Play-Doh a little bit. They just helped create something that could only have been created by two people playing together.

I want to also add one last thing, that it’s not always playful in a typical way that you would think, like, “Oh, let’s just have fun and be silly.” There’s a lot of that now on TV, commercials that have everybody dancing and laughing. It’s not that. It’s about playing into whatever you’re feeling. Being free enough to just feel it and express it. I want to prod you, push you there, and capture it.

There have been many moments, probably every single one of these particular pictures that we chose, where there were screams on the set, laughing. Over the loud music, loud screams. Just looking at each other like, “Wah! Oh my God!” The subject and myself connecting like that. I can’t tell you how memorable these moments are, and so many, many more. I’m so grateful to have had this sort of career and the exposure to these people and to have been able to explore with them, explore their personalities and their own willingness to go for something and create some little piece of history.

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne is the best guy. For as big as he is, personality wise he is polite, humble and respectful, and shows up on time. He’s just adorable. I’ve shot him three or four times and every time he’s the same. He’s just a genuinely good guy,

Barack Obama

Mr Charming. Just lovable. I’ve shot two presidents. They were very different. I shot George W Bush once and Obama twice. One thing that I was surprised at — not about Obama but about Bush — was how they really are people lovers. I mean, Obama just loves people. He wants to hear what you’re doing. He doesn’t want to talk about himself. And he loves music. It was really, really exciting to be in his presence. This was a few months into his first presidential campaign and it was just fun. I shot him first on the campaign trail, but I didn’t really interact with him then. I was kind of a fly on the wall. But this set up was in his senate office and was really personal.

Chris Martin

Oh, my God. He’s so special. Chris is just a guy that every girl would fall in love with, really, truly. Who else would you want to climb up on top of a roof with and just look out at the hills in California? He’s so pure and straightforward, as in I didn’t have to figure him out, you know? He was completely charming and willing. Other shots from that day were when he climbed a tree, or he was up on top of a branch. It was just really fun and pure. Like a little boy. He came for all the right reasons.

Rob Gronkowski

Okay. Well, this dude maybe takes the cake, you know? Rob’s a maniac. He’s the most adorable, relatable, mischievous man. Anything that he shouldn’t be doing is the funniest thing to him on the planet. So we’re a good match.

Robin Williams

I almost can’t even talk about him. He was the quintessential… wait, I’m going to list them for you: Jim Carrey, Bill Murray, Robin Williams, these guys are from another planet. This is exactly who I’m talking about when I say that you give one little tiny grain of rice and they take it and blow it up and make it something just extraordinary. Robin was the perfect guy for me to play with. I have such childish ideas, they’re really silly, a lot of them, and it speaks to a real purity, a love of playing. It’s the core of what I do and why I love the spontaneous pictures, because they’re raw and they’re a window into somebody’s soul. And this dude… it was a jaw dropping day. It was so much fun and so collaborative and so simple. We had nothing, basically no props. “Somebody find me some lip stick, and just play with that. Talk to your hand, do whatever.” And it was magic. Magic that guy. He hugged everybody on the set, he said goodbye to everybody. We had just a short time with him, probably two hours. And he walked out of the room and we were all just silent, like, “Holy shit, what just happened?”

Bruno Mars

Bruno is just a charmer. That dude can’t do anything wrong. And he was one that loved to play. To me, he’s a crooner. In that image, he really sang to us, you know? And that’s happened many times with a lot of musicians. I never really want them to fake it. We’d get a private concert every now and then, it’s pretty awesome. He’s beautiful. I mean, you can’t go wrong with Bruno.

Ewan McGregor

My God, Ewan is just everything. We’ve played music that a lot of musicians have sung themselves — we shot Stevie Nicks and we played her music and she sang along. But I never played it until they were on set and we had some sort of rapport, and I kind of got a vibe from them. Or I asked them before, “Do you mind if we play your music? Or is it distracting for you?” We get all kinds of answers. “Please play it.” Or, “No, definitely don’t play my music!”

I do really stupid things sometimes. And sometimes they work out and sometimes they totally fall flat. Well, I took a risk with Ewan because the melody from Moulin Rouge is one of my favorites. So I said to Trish, who was playing music on the set, “Okay, I’ve never done this before, but we are going to blast this song when he walks out and just see what happens.” And I didn’t know him yet. It wasn’t like I had met him and I was hanging out with him in the dressing room before or whatever. So he walks on set and I looked at her and she said, “Are you sure you want to do this?” And I’m like, “Yes.” He walked out and we had it playing full blast. And he just started singing at the top of his lungs to all of us. I mean, immediately… That was it. I just died. I think he loved it as much as we did. I mean, forget about all the diverse roles that he’s played and what a genuinely nice guy he is. His voice is like the voice of an angel. I mean, God. Just that alone. He’s a guy that you can love. Guys and women, everyone.

Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake

Well, Jimmy Fallon, when he decides to leave his wife, he’ll be my husband. He’s just another one that loves it, eats it up. He just wants to play. And being shot with JT. This was in the zone of when they were doing History of Rap. All very top secret. And they did it for us. They literally were just performing for us, but completely ad-libbing everything. Dancing together, laughing together. We would just throw props at them and they would just go off on it.

Robert Downey Jr

We’ve picked a lot of images which are the top tier, and maybe this is why they’re my favorites: These guys are memorable. Robert did everything, and wanted to do even more. He’s just a very relatable guy for me. I thought that he’d come with some sort of preconceived, “This is how I should be seen.” And worry about looking good… Nope. He was a do anything. “Put this dude in your mouth and sit there.” “Okay.”

Dave Grohl

Dave’s just a very soulful guy. He has so much depth in every respect. He had moments where he was laughing and jumping and screaming, but this moment really meant the most to me. That’s why I chose this picture, just hugging his guitar and he’s lost in the wind like that. He’s just a beautiful guy, a really beautiful guy.

Michael Che and Colin Jost

Michael and Colin were awesome. They were really, really fun to work with. We had this idea that we wanted these comedians to choreograph who they wanted to portray and these are the characters that they chose, so I was just over the moon. The hamburgers were my idea. But it was a real collaboration. They just spun off on it. Basically, all I had to do was encourage them to keep it alive and keep talking and moving.  I blew wind in their hair and just wanted it to feel as if they were in a frozen moment.

Jon Hamm

He’s adorable. Jon’s a guy’s guy, and not afraid to be honest. I remember him being really open about his own craft and commenting, “Oh, there’s so many actors that just want to do it just to be famous.” He was not inspired by that. So I think that’s where he fits into my world. He was like, “Yeah, I could quit this any day. I don’t want to be involved with that. I just want to do it for the right reasons.” It was interesting to hear that.

Seth Rogen

Seth is just the goofiest guy ever. He was so much fun. His laugh is just something else. When you’re on the set with someone that has this kind of a really little boyish attitude, he even makes himself laugh. That’s one of the most charming things.

Bill Murray

That dude… Bill is a child in a man’s body. He just got into everything. We played Stevie Wonder and he sang at the top of his lungs his favorite, favorite song, ‘All is Fair in Love’. He was just so into all of it. We shot him in New York and his son came to the shoot. While Bill was getting dressed, I sat and talked to his son a little bit. And he told me he played football. He said, “Peg, my father was at every football game, in the stands. He would show up with this giant African drum strapped around him and he would sit in the stands and bang the drum.” I mean, can you imagine? This dude doesn’t give a shit what anybody thinks about him. That’s the beauty of him. That’s what’s so attractive about this guy. He just doesn’t care.

Kobe Bryant

Jim [Moore, a frequent collaborator and previously creative director at GQ] and I talk often, and we talk about who our favorites were. And Kobe is definitely up there. I shot him early on when he was 17 and there was something sentimental and sweet. His family were there, his dad, we shot for Adidas. Nobody knew who he was. And then years later I shot him periodically for different things. So I saw such a huge progression in him, but never, ever saw that guy’s personality change, ever. It was the same humble, sweet, adorable, lovable guy.

Jeff Bridges

Maybe you wonder, what if you met him? Well, he is exactly who you think he is. He is just the most absolutely lovable man maybe I’ve ever met. He is so chill and charming and a family guy. Just beyond words. Another one that’s willing to do anything. “Oh, put these weird clothes on and go sit in the bathtub.” “Okay. Where’s the bathtub?”

Trevor Noah

Just love that guy. Trevor was willing to do it all. He was just like, ‘Bam, hit it.’ He could be a model. He could be a spokesperson. He could sit there and engage with you, unaware of the camera. Just an awesome guy to photograph.

Pete Davidson

Pete was really interesting. I kind of thought he was going to be a rock that I’d have to try to squeeze water out of. I think maybe it was a little bit of a dark time for him because he had just broken up with Arianna [Grande]. We were all a little bit afraid that he was not going to really deliver anything very vulnerable or genuine, or that there would maybe be some sort of facade. But his charm breaks through that. He was there to play and he was pretty genuine with us. Moments like this image that were real. That was cool.

Drake

Drake is a really unusual character. Very polite. He is really well-mannered. Very well-educated. I believe he was going to be an attorney. We were in his house to shoot. I have a picture of myself in his bathtub, which is the size of a swimming pool, I kid you not. He was not willing to do just anything, but he did some things that were pretty awesome. It had to be in his way.

Rami Malek

Rami I knew quite early on in his career, and he is a really serious actor. I mean, he takes everything seriously. He’s really sensitive. He’s really in it. He wants to make sure that all of it works for the right reasons. He’s very thoughtful about what he does. One of the favorite things that he shared with me — it was before ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ came out — he was telling us the story about how they filmed the Wembley concert in the movie. They scheduled to shoot that first, which was sort of the pinnacle of that film. He said, “It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life, having to walk up there and be Freddie Mercury and shoot that most important scene straight up. And it was all choreographed. I had to match the moves. Holy shit. If I fall flat on my face, we’re done.” I’m sure he’s told this story to many people, but I think, because I knew him early on, there was something very tender about that for me, to see this progression, especially with people that become really famous.

I’m not really impressed by fame, I don’t really care, it has nothing to do with anything I do. But some people really morph into something different when they become famous. And some people don’t change. Some people just remain who they really are, and this is definitely who Rami is. His emotions are right on the surface and he’s really present and he’s very engaging. He wants to feel the reason why we’re doing something and then he’s fully into it. He just dives in. There’s an elevated vibe around it. He wants to have his heart and soul in it. I mean, he’s the perfect person to end on for me because he’s the quintessential dude, the quintessential actor to photograph.

Discover more on Peggy Sirota’s website and Instagram