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Photographer Captures Intimate Moments with Celebrities at the Venice Film Festival

British photographer Greg Williams lifts the curtain on the private lives of celebrities in his candid project. Cinematic photos of Hollywood royalty like Johnny Depp, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tilda Swinton beyond the glitz and glamor of the silver screen. Williams documented intimate shots of A-listers as they laughed, talked, and relaxed in cars, hotels, and boats on the Grand Canal.

“My favourite part,” he told Mymodernmet about his unusual experience, “was using my 20 years of experience and relationships, along with a bit of nerve and a good dose of luck, to be the only guy in the boat.”

His background shaped the photographer‘s dramatic style of composition and lighting in reportage and motion film.

“From my early days as a photojournalist, I was always possessed with the Magnum on-set photos from 1960s Life Magazine. I am trying to capture moments that are reminiscent of the golden age of cinema,” Williams, who covered the conflicts in Burma, Chechnya, and Sierra Leone in the 1990s, shared with Mymodernmet. “Today, much of my work is in advertising, but my background in photojournalism taught me about capturing decisive moments. The work I did in film influences the cinematic way I shoot.”

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Jake Gyllenhaal at the hotel after the press conference for Everest.
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Dakota Johnson outside for a breath of fresh air at the afterparty for Black Mass.
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Coffee and phone in hand, festival juror Elizabeth Banks walks down the hotel hallway to the Black Mass premiere.
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Mark Ruffalo and wife Sunrise Coigney on the Grand Canal on the way to the screening of Spotlight.
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Jake Gyllenhaal headed to watch Everest open the festival.
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Felicity Blunt with Stanley Tucci and Tom McCarthy on their way to the Spotlight premiere.
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Amber Heard waits for husband Johnny Depp at his premiere of Black Mass.
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Johnny Depp and Amber Heard on the boat home.
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Festival juror Elizabeth Banks heads for the red carpet of the Black Mass premiere.
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Jake Gyllenhaal, Brent Morley, and Jason Clarke eat spaghetti while heading to the Everest press conference.
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Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, and Josh Brolin on their way to the premiere of Everest, the opening film of the festival.
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Eddie Redmayne before boarding the boat to The Danish Girl premiere.