{"id":327942,"date":"2026-03-13T16:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/327942\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:12:10","slug":"the-stories-behind-a-photographers-favorite-2026-awards-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/327942\/","title":{"rendered":"The stories behind a photographer’s favorite 2026 awards photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 As a staff photojournalist for The Associated Press based in Los Angeles, Chris Pizzello covers hundreds of entertainment events<\/a> a year \u2014 perched in the rafters, crouched on the red carpet or directing stars to make the perfect portrait. It all culminates in awards season, where he captures the defining moments in the lives of the celebrities he\u2019s shot day in and day out, from the triumphs of Beyonc\u00e9<\/a> and Bad Bunny<\/a> at the Grammys to the envelope snafu<\/a> and The Slap<\/a> at the Oscars.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Sunday\u2019s Oscars,<\/a> he broke down his favorite photos from the 2026 awards season thus far.<\/p>\n

Critics Choice Awards: Amy Madigan surprises \u2014 and is surprised<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/p>\n

Amy Madigan, center, reacts to winning the award for best supporting actress for \u201cWeapons\u201d during the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Amy Madigan, center, reacts to winning the award for best supporting actress for \u201cWeapons\u201d during the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

One of the cool aspects of shooting the Critics Choice Awards in January<\/a> is that the few photographers allowed inside are placed right in the middle of the room, surrounded by tables of celebrities. Usually, at awards shows, we\u2019re placed far behind the action, requiring us to scope out the celebrities with massive, bazooka-like 600 mm lenses on monopods.<\/p>\n

I usually try to predict who is going to win right before the announcement, so that I can capture their instant reaction. It\u2019s one of my favorite kinds of entertainment photos. Everyone likes to win and they\u2019re always at least a little surprised or gratified, no matter how many times they\u2019ve won before. For the supporting actress category, I actually thought that Teyana Taylor was the likely winner, since \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d had been winning a lot of critics\u2019 awards. So I had my lens trained on her back near the stage. But I knew Amy Madigan was also quite close to my position over to my left. When they announced Madigan\u2019s name for \u201cWeapons,\u201d<\/a> I swung my lens over quickly and managed to capture her own surprise. I love the reactions of the folks at the table around her, especially her young co-star Cary Christopher in the shades.<\/p>\n

Golden Globes: Teyana Taylor, triumphant<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Teyana<\/p>\n

Teyana Taylor poses in the press room with the award for best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture for \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d during the 83rd Golden Globes in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Teyana Taylor poses in the press room with the award for best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture for \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d during the 83rd Golden Globes in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Every awards season, there is one nominee who is having more fun than everyone else \u2014 and this year, that person is Taylor. Awards season eventually becomes a slog to the vast majority of the nominees, and you can sense the flagging energy as February churns into March. The shoulders slump imperceptibly, the smile becomes a little forced, and the wave to the crowd a little less ebullient than it was at the Palm Springs Film Festival<\/a> at the start of January (the unofficial kickoff of every awards season).<\/p>\n

But none of this applies to Taylor. She\u2019s easily been the red carpet star<\/a> of the 2026 awards season. She\u2019s the most fashionable, the most energetic and just the plain happiest to be here. The entertainment photographers all wake up when she arrives for the red carpet, and she definitely knows what she\u2019s doing out there.<\/p>\n

I like this frame from the photo room of the Golden Globes because you can sense Taylor\u2019s exuberance without even seeing her face. She had just won the supporting actress in a motion picture award for her performance in \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d<\/a> and was posing up a storm. She gave the photographers about 10 different looks, all equally lively and fun, before finally turning around and striking this triumphant pose.<\/p>\n

Oscar nominees luncheon: Connecting with Ethan Hawke<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ethan<\/p>\n

Ethan Hawke poses for a portrait during the 98th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Ethan Hawke poses for a portrait during the 98th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Some of the best vibes of awards season are found at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon,<\/a> customarily held at the storied Beverly Hilton. Nominees will stroll around makeshift studios set up by the world\u2019s media outlets and do interviews. A few of the outlets (like the AP) are allowed to shoot brief portraits.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a bit of a crapshoot, since every outlet is fighting to get the same nominees and there are only so many interviews they can do. You just have to be ready for whoever happens to stop by. This year, best actor nominee Ethan Hawke was one of the very first nominees to visit the AP studio.<\/a> The \u201cBlue Moon\u201d star<\/a> was so early that my lighting was not even fine-tuned yet. (It usually takes a few sessions before you really have the lighting ratio locked in.)<\/p>\n

Since these are very brief shoots, all you can do is try to get the subject on your side immediately. What popped into my head was how I felt he was robbed a few years ago when he was not even nominated for his incredible performance in Paul Schrader\u2019s \u201cFirst Reformed.\u201d<\/a> He chuckled and said he agreed. Hawke has an interesting way of chatting and posing at the same time, a quality that has been remarked upon by fellow photographers. It\u2019s more efficient because when you put your camera down to mingle, you\u2019re robbing yourself of precious time to get portraits. Or potentially taking time away from the interviewer. In this frame, Hawke laughed at something in mid-conversation, which gave the portrait a relaxed, spontaneous feel \u2014 all you can ask for.<\/p>\n

Grammys: Justin Bieber strips it down<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/p>\n

Justin Bieber performs \u201cYukon\u201d during the 68th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Justin Bieber performs \u201cYukon\u201d during the 68th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

The Grammys are always a busy, chaotic, three-hour plus show with elaborate sets, constant lighting and costume changes, pyrotechnic displays and sometimes a cast of hundreds running around the stage for just a single production number. So it was a radical move indeed when Justin Bieber came out onstage to perform,<\/a> wearing nothing but a guitar and his boxers.<\/p>\n

His performance was literally so stripped-down that there wasn\u2019t much to shoot other than tight shots of Bieber<\/a> moodily leaning into his microphone. Then near the end of the song, as I was switching lenses, I looked up and noticed the wider context of a lone, small figure alone on the stage, dimly lit by a spotlight overhead. Shooting the boxer-clad Bieber in front of a sea of black hopefully gets across the guts it took for him to lay it on the line in front of not only a packed arena but also a live, worldwide viewing audience.<\/p>\n

Actor Awards: Michael B. Jordan, mind-blown<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael B. Jordan reacts as he accepts the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for \u201cSinners\u201d during the 32nd Annual Actor Awards in Los Angeles on March 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Michael B. Jordan reacts as he accepts the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for \u201cSinners\u201d during the 32nd Annual Actor Awards in Los Angeles on March 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello, File)<\/p>\n

Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

It had all been getting too predictable.<\/a> While there has been some variability in the supporting actor wins through awards season, the leads seemed to have been locked in<\/a> since early January: Jessie Buckley and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet. While Buckley prevailed yet again at the Actor Awards,<\/a> there was a big surprise in store when Viola Davis took the stage to present male actor in a leading role.<\/p>\n

My lens was trained on Chalamet. I thought the only possible upset could be Leonardo DiCaprio for \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d since he was the early favorite in the category before everyone saw Chalamet\u2019s electrifying turn in \u201cMarty Supreme.\u201d But Leo was not even in the building, so I kept my focus on Chalamet.<\/p>\n

But Davis suddenly called out Michael B. Jordan\u2019s name for \u201cSinners,\u201d<\/a> and the ballroom erupted. No one saw it coming, least of all Jordan. He is a pretty cool customer, so it was fun to shoot his genuinely gobsmacked reaction<\/a> up at the podium. The Actor Awards this year was like seeing a fairly conventional Hollywood film with an out-of-nowhere twist ending.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 As a staff photojournalist for The Associated Press based in Los Angeles, Chris Pizzello…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6334,176595,60956,176596,442,498,499,500,27813,176598,117574,179,176597,3623,176594,501,15182,156,2595,3717,26626,3631,2980,14383,263,2047,60957,409,157,111,139,69,72623,5296,15661,45005,5021,75922],"class_list":{"0":"post-327942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-academy-awards","9":"tag-academy-awards-oscars","10":"tag-amy-madigan","11":"tag-ap-is-there","12":"tag-arts","13":"tag-arts-and-design","14":"tag-artsanddesign","15":"tag-artsdesign","16":"tag-bad-bunny","17":"tag-beverly-hilton","18":"tag-beyonce-knowles","19":"tag-california","20":"tag-cary-christopher","21":"tag-celebrity","22":"tag-chris-pizzello","23":"tag-design","24":"tag-domestic-news","25":"tag-entertainment","26":"tag-ethan-hawke","27":"tag-general-news","28":"tag-grammy-awards","29":"tag-jessie-buckley","30":"tag-justin-bieber","31":"tag-leonardo-dicaprio","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-los-angeles","34":"tag-michael-b-jordan","35":"tag-movies","36":"tag-music","37":"tag-new-zealand","38":"tag-newzealand","39":"tag-nz","40":"tag-paul-schrader","41":"tag-photography","42":"tag-teyana-taylor","43":"tag-timothee-chalamet","44":"tag-u-s-news","45":"tag-viola-davis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}