A day in the life photographing on the set of Black Mirror, Simply scintillating images from Meryl Meisler

ON FEATURE SHOOT

The Unit Stills Photographer Who Captured
Everyone’s Favorite Episode of Black Mirror

It was nighttime in Cape Town, and the photographer David Dettmann had been shooting for five nights straight. He was exhausted, but he had one chance to get his shot of the now-famous car crash scene in the San Junipero episode of Black Mirror. A love story with a twist, San Junipero is largely considered by critics to be the best episode of the series. Even if you haven’t seen it, you might have seen Dettman’s promo shots, featuring actors Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis, illuminated by street lights and decked in 1980s costumes.

Dettmann has worked as a photographer in the film industry for decades. While his career has certainly had its fair share of celebrity encounters—he’s photographed Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Margot Robbie, Olivia Colman, and countless others on the Red Carpet—it’s not all glitz and glamour. For a unit photographer, it’s all about late nights, tight spaces, and even tighter deadlines. “On the last day of Junipero, I was literally falling asleep while standing up, something I didn’t know was possible,” the artist recalls.

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PROJECTS WE LOVE

“The work in ‘Simply Scintillating’ spans from Meisler’s early pictures of suburban Long Island to the frenetic clubs of 1970s Manhattan, to slices of daily life in pre-gentrification Bushwick, to the present, where Meryl has found herself back in the nightlife world documenting the contemporary party landscape through a lens informed by decades spent watching New York and its inhabitants evolve.

“Regardless of whether her subject is a stranger on the Bowery, Grace Jones at a club opening, or a child in Bushwick putting on roller skates, Meisler maintains a perspective and voice as a photographer who does not shy away from the absurd and joyful. As the artist puts it, she has a “queer, quirky eye.”

“A public school teacher for 31 years, Meisler only revealed her vast photographic archive upon retiring in 2010. Then the work emerged like a bat out of hell! This exhibition offers a peek into the archive, including vintage and contemporary prints surveying the artist’s entire collection of images.”

Simply Scintillating: A Retrospective is on view at CLAMP through November 4, 2023. More info here.

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