Posted on by tanster

The Office à la Georges Seurat’s ‘Sunday Afternoon’

Q&A with photographer Chris Haston

I’ve gotten to know NBC photographer Chris Haston over the years, and was happy that he agreed to answer a few questions about this beautiful new graphic of The Office!

tanster: How long did it take for you to shoot? How many separate sessions did it take? I assume you shot John/Jenna together, Angela/Kate together, etc?

Chris: I prelit the day before with my good friend Dave Bjerke. It took us about four hours to get it ready for the cast to walk in. I shot everyone individually with the exception of Jim and Pam. It made sense to shoot them together.

tanster: Did you shoot in an actual park? Or was it all done with prop backgrounds/Photoshop?

Chris: We actually shot on Stage 3 at the Dunder Mifflin stages. It is the area where we shot the hospital where Jim and Pam had their baby. Production built a “grassy knoll” and we shot on a neutral background.

tanster: Did you do the Photoshopping as well?

Chris: I did not do the post work on this. I left it up to people who know what they are doing. Sean Serio from NBC “Off Air” was the designer and art director.

tanster: Whose idea was it originally to re-interpret the Seurat painting?

Chris: It was Sean’s idea. He was the designer.

tanster: Anything else you can tell us about how this image was created?

Chris: This was a blast to shoot. Every cast member of The Office is amazing. They follow direction well, they trusted me with my vision and we had an amazing day and shoot. John Lavet was my photo producer and Don Wallschlaeger was my prop guy.

Learn more about Chris at www.chrishaston.com. Thanks, Chris!

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38 comments

  2. This may be reading too much into it, but I don’t think Darryl would be wearing those clothes if he were the new manager…

  4. Whoa!! Gabe is absent from this picture…plus, he’s replaced in the middle of the manager search, too, according to the promo…I wonder if he is actually leaving?!

    Also, I LOVE this; it is sure to be my desktop background for months and months…! (:

  7. so are we to take it from this pic that they ARE hiring from within? where is the new manager???

  8. Whoops; my mistake, Tanster; looks like he’s behind Jordan in there…

  13. I thought that was Gabe in the back left, sort of leaning over the water a bit…

    Definitely need this as a download, NBC! Time to replace my wallpaper anyway – it’s been Agent Michael Scarn for the last couple months.

  14. Needs more Angela’s cats (in place of the dogs in the original). Otherwise… Awesome!

  15. Dwight is the only one facing frontwards… and he’s in the immediate center of the portrait. Perhaps Mr. Schrute will be a (permanent) manager after all.

  18. Think about it folks, the NBC photographer who took the individual shots probably did not know what is going to happen boss-wise. Even if they did know, they would be aware that it shouldn’t affect the graphic.

  19. Gabe is actually in the very back near Jordan, leaning over the water. And Michael isn’t in this because this is a promo for the 2011-2012 season.

  20. Already have this as my facebook profile pic, and my desktop background!

  21. Does this mean Kelly is definitely returning next season? I haven’t heard anything about that for ages.

  23. Paul Lieberstein said Mindy Kaling is still going to be on the show, just that she may or may not return as a writer.

  24. it looks so awesome (:
    as far as i can see, that’s the cast we have right now? so, maybe that means that either one of them does become the boss, or the boss will be pretty unimportant to the ensemble that they’re not really part of the main cast.

  26. Why doesn’t NBC ever make widescreen versions of their Office wallpapers? These days, I’m pretty sure widescreen is the norm, is it not? I’d love to have this as my background.

  29. just think how great it would’ve been to see Michael in this photo, splashing and flailing to climb out of the pond

  30. This is great! When most shows copy a famous painting, it’s “The Last Supper.” This is a refreshing change.

  32. Thanks everyone for your kind words! This was a fun shoot! Chris Haston did an amazing job for us! Cheers!!!

    [from tanster: thanks for stopping by, sean! it is an awesome piece. that’s what she said. :) ]

  33. Beautiful work! I’m really amazed and delighted by it. Kudos to the entire team who worked on it…the cast must be thrilled by it, too! :-)

  34. Michael Scott is in the pond.. and Gabe is watching him drown.. And Kevin looks like Lotso from Toy Story 3, only Oscar has his stick ! Awesome image !

  37. I saw this picture on a hotel TV OnDemand menu this weekend. Jordan and her umbrella…ella…ella…had been removed.

  38. I love this more than you know! My favorite picture of all time and one of my favorite shows=AWESOMENESS!!!

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