EMMA STONE

Blow-Up

May 1, 2025

Photograph and words by GREG WILLIAMS

Greg Williams takes pause to consider the bigger picture on images seen small on his social media. This issue: Emma Stone on her way to present best actress at the 2025 Academy Awards.

This picture works for me on several levels. Firstly, its imperfections add to its authenticity. I love the grit of the dimly lit passage. The picture has motion blur and technically it is under-exposed. However, that only adds to its authenticity and drama – pin sharp and bright, I don’t think I’d like it as much.

Then we have the centre point perspective. It’s shot on a wide lens. Emma’s husband, Dave McCary, is walking in front and having him slap bang in the middle of frame creates the perfect centre focus point for the image. The walls to the left and the fence to the right create that vanishing point ‘zoom’ perspective around Dave.

I didn’t do any retouching on the image. Even the traffic cone to the left adds to the authenticity – if I was retouching, I’d have painted it out. Instead it gives a balance to the picture.

Lastly, and most importantly, we have Emma. It was a bit of a hurry to get her from her hotel suite, through a maze of corridors, lifts and kitchens to a back door where she was walking to eventually arrive at the Oscars red carpet. I simply called out for her to look back and I pulled a silly face and got this reaction. I just shot this one frame; I wasn’t even looking through the camera, I just got lucky.

Photographs and words by GREG WILLIAMS
Shot on Leica Q3
Emma wears Louis Vuitton

2025 Academy Awards, Emma Stone, Greg Williams, Leica Q3, Louis Vuitton

JAY KELLY

Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer’s gentle ribbing of Hollywood begins with deliberate artifice

Griffith Observatory, La La Land, Los Angeles, Mark Read, Rebel Without a Cause

SEEING STARS

Ninety years ago, LA opened the Griffith observatory high in the hills to watch the firmament above – and the Hollywood community below.

BUY

You may also like…

NIGHTBITCH

Words by JANE CROWTHER You don’t have to be a parent or have been part of raising a child to feel the vibes of Marielle Heller’s adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s novel. But anyone who has ever played the hundredth mindnumbing toddler game in a day, cleaned up ankle-biter messes on rinse and repeat or prayed that

hotel du cap-eden-roc, antibes, under the cherry moon

RIVIERA CHIC

As Cannes’ Palais rolls out the red carpet, the grift begins for everyone from bellboys to producers trying to seal a deal over a glass of rosé and the roar of the crowds lining the Croisette. This gem of the French Riviera has become a hot spot for the jet-set and Hollywood since the first

THUSO MBEDU

There is a map of the world on the wall of Thuso Mbedu’s apartment in the San Fernando Valley, the sprawling satellite suburb that lies to the northwest of the Los Angeles mothership. Written in large, cursive script at the bottom of the poster is the phrase “She’s going places”. A handful of dots are