7.) Mary Ellen Matthews — Genevieve Kerr

Mary Ellen Matthews is a New York City and East Hampton, NY based photographer. She is best known for her celebrity portraits featured on the TV show Saturday Night Live. These portraits are colorful, witty and unique to each celebrity. In the studio, Matthews works hard to create a friendly environment for her subjects, allowing their personalities to shine through, and they work together to determine how to take the shot. As a photographer, it is very important to have a relationship with whatever, or whomever you are photographing. It is important because having that bond will allow for a more intimate story to be told. Mary Ellen Matthews has mastered this practice, and the results of that show in all of her work. Each celebrity portrait brings out pieces of their personality to enhance the connection the photos make with the audience.

Some photos are very dynamic and colorful, while other are rather simple. Each one carries the energy of the shoot as well as the aura of the subject. Creative editing helps bring the photos to life. Matthews puts a lot of thought into her edits; utilizing color, special effects, and repetition to complement the subject and strengthen the image. Matthews finds inspiration from other photographers, magazines, and paintings. Her photos celebrate the essence of a fun group of people working together to create something epic. It takes a large team to put together a film or TV show, but photographers often work alone. In this case, Matthews works with the team that puts on SNL, and she plays a vital role in the production of the show. Working with so many talented people and seeing the end result come together so beautifully is an extremely rewarding experience for anyone in the arts industry. The work Mary Ellen Matthews does for SNL is like the last piece of the puzzle that makes the whole production come together.