Angelina Jolie first red carpet appearance on 2013 at American Society of Cinematographers

Angelina Jolie | Photo by Jc Olivera (Image available for License at Wire Image)

“We strike gold!”, that is what one of my fellow photographers said at The American Society of Cinematographers Awards last night at The Grand Ball Room in Hollywood & Highland.

I got the assignment last thursday, read the notes and said yes, yesterday got to the venue 50 mins prior to check in, it was a very cold night, after checking in I was told that there was not going to be a red carpet just a ‘press room’ and the ASC’s publicist will be bringing nominees and presenters to have their photo taken.

The night went on, we had like 10-15 minutes gap between presenters/nominees and while I was waiting I had to edit images from a previous event, minutes went by and suddenly I saw some one walking into the red carpet, grabbed my camera and when I focused the subject… there she was, the one and only Angelina Jolie!, in nano-seconds I had flashbacks of all the movies, posters, images and everything about Angelina, she was there less than 5 feet away from me, in seconds I realized that I had to focus and get those shots, so I went into shooting-mode and I started yelling her name (yeah that’s is what we do at red carpets in order to get the Celebrity attention), we were only 5 photographers so, each of us got our share.  She stood there for a couple of seconds and gave us her smile, few seconds later she vanished.

I was like.. “What was that?, somebody pinched me!”, then the others photographers were saying, “We strike gold!”, I said ‘She made my nigh!”, the photographer next to me said: “She made my week!, do you know how much she sells?”, and I was like, well yeah, not every day you get the chance to photograph an A-list Celebrity and not every day you get the chance to see Angelina Jolie walking the red carpets in Hollywood.

We all were grateful for the nice surprise we had, outside the patio where the ‘press room’ was, there were monitors and we were able to see the awards, presentation and everything, She gave the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award to a fellow cinematographer Dean Semler, after the presentation we were ready!, minutes later she came back, there she was again, both of them pose, we were just enjoying the moment, at least I was, got the images that I needed, they left and I was happy… well no, no yet, my laptop’s battery was empty, my hot spot wireless internet had no battery and I had 15 frames of Angelina Jolie in my card and no way to send them or editing them, I was anxious to send those files.

I looked around and voila!, a power outlet all the way at the end of the patio, got my cables sat down on the floor, plugged everything and minutes later the universe was aligned again, I had power, I transfered my files, edited them, captioned them and hit send… minutes later they appeared on the agency website.

The show was over, most of the guest left, crew was tearing the venue apart and I was still there, editing and sending images to the agency,  it was a very cold night at that moment I was happy and she was happy,  It was the day that Angelina Jolie got the chance to have her photograph taken by me… (come on let me dream!).

The next morning while enjoying my coffee, I fired the browser and searched for: angelina jolie jc olivera on google and I found that my images of Miss Jolie were picked up by some magazines:

• Angelina Jolie Stuns at Cinematographers’ Awards Show
• Angelina Jolie makes first 2013 red carpet appearance
• Angelina Jolie emerges two weeks before the Oscars at The American Society of Cinematographers

You may be saying “What is he making such a big deal?”, well if you are professional photographer and you shoot red carpets for a living chances are you have already photographed Angelina Jolie, I am a professional photographer based in Los Angeles, and this was a rare appearance of Miss Jolie and yeah for me it was a big deal.

Jc Olivera

Los Angeles Special Event Photography

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Jc Olivera is a Los Angeles Professional Special Event Photographer who specializes in  Celebrity Events, Galas & Awards, Fundraisers, Corporate, Red Carpets, Concerts, Movie Premieres & more.