{"id":704323,"date":"2026-05-30T13:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704323\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T13:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:05:12","slug":"press-photographer-releases-30-year-archive-of-iconic-celebrity-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704323\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Photographer Releases 30-Year Archive of Iconic Celebrity Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AKate Moss on her 33rd birthday at The Dorchester hotel, January 2007 | Greg Brennan <\/p>\n

One of Britain\u2019s longest standing and most celebrated press photographers presents an intimate look at three decades of images covering celebrity, entertainment, and major events in a new book.<\/p>\n

The Big Shot: Photographs by Greg Brennan<\/a> (published by ACC Art Books) features more than 100 images drawn from Greg Brennan\u2019s long career in press photography. Over the decades, Brennan has photographed a wide range of prominent public figures, documenting individuals from culture, sport, fashion, and politics in candid moments intended to reveal aspects of their personalities at key points in their lives.<\/p>\n

\"AAngelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton. The Ivy, Covent Garden, July 2001. | Greg Brennan \"OlderJack Nicholson. The Wolseley, Piccadilly, January 2008 | Greg Brennan \"AnQueen Elizabeth II, June 2015, a photograph that was 12 years in the making. | Greg Brennan <\/p>\n

His subjects include figures from Hollywood, music, sport, fashion, and the British royal family. Brennan describes a career built around pursuing access to behind-the-scenes moments, including encounters with Jack Nicholson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lady Gaga, Queen Elizabeth II, and Kate Moss.<\/p>\n

\"AThe Prince and Princess of Wales on their wedding day, April 2011. | Greg Brennan \"ATaylor Swift, Mayfair, May 2009 | Greg Brennan <\/p>\n

One of Brennan\u2019s best-known and best-selling images is a 2007 photograph of supermodel Kate Moss wearing a fur coat at the bottom of a fire escape, cigarette in hand. At the time, Moss was at the height of her fame, and Brennan\u2019s image became closely associated with the supermodel\u2019s \u201cparty era.\u201d <\/p>\n

How a Dead Flash Battery Led to His Most Famous Shot <\/p>\n

In The Big Shot, Brennan explains how the photograph of Moss came about. He had been assigned to The Dorchester hotel in London to photograph the supermodel\u2019s birthday party. But shortly after arriving, Brennan learned that Moss and Doherty were elsewhere at the Donmar Warehouse, a theater in London\u2019s West End. He rushed across the city but found a large crowd of photographers and onlookers blocking the entrance. At that point, he discovered an issue with his equipment: the batteries in his flash unit were nearly flat.<\/p>\n

\"AKate Moss on her 33rd birthday at The Dorchester hotel, January 2007. | Greg Brennan <\/p>\n

\u201cThere must have been 100 cameras, all pointed in the same direction, waiting for the perfect shot. As I glanced at the pack, I realised my flash batteries were nearly dead.\u201d Brennan writes in The Big Shot. \u201cThere was no way I could afford to miss the moment, so I dashed back to my car, only a few streets away, to grab fresh ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

After returning to his car nearby, Brennan recalled that the theater had a fire escape that also functioned as a back entrance. He had previously photograph actress Nicole Kidman leaving from this fire escape in the late 1990s. He checked it and found Moss sitting on the stairs, smoking. Pushing his camera through the ajar door, Brennan captured a series of 10 images that would become his most famous.<\/p>\n

Told in Brennan\u2019s own words, with an accompanying narrative by his son Dylan, The Big Shot: Photographs by Greg Brennan is presented as both a photographic record of major public figures and events, and a personal account of a photographer\u2019s pursuit of the decisive moment, sometimes over many years.<\/p>\n

The Big Shot: Photographs by Greg Brennan can be purchased here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kate Moss on her 33rd birthday at The Dorchester hotel, January 2007 | Greg Brennan One of Britain\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,267827,460,134,342739,342740,342741,201034,212825],"class_list":["post-704323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrityphotographer","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-iconicphoto","tag-katemoss","tag-paparazziphotography","tag-photobook","tag-pressphotographer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}