SNL photographer reveals secrets of shooting…
Mary Ellen Matthew’s job is as enjoyable because it seems to be.
For the previous 25 years, the 59-year-old photographer has been shooting all the time iconic, typically whimsical portraits of stars to function “bumpers” — pictures that seem on screen earlier than a business break — for “Saturday Night Live.”
“The bumpers are probably the least appreciated part of the show, but anybody who knows the show knows how much they mean,” the show’s head honcho, Lorne Michaels, writes within the foreword to Matthew’s new guide, “The Art of the SNL Portrait” (Harry N. Abrams, out now).
A new guide options a whole bunch of iconic “bumper” photographs from “Saturday Night Live.” From the guide ‘The Art of the SNL Portrait’ (Abrams) by Mary Ellen Matthews, on-sale now. © 2025 Mary Ellen Matthews.
Mary Ellen Matthews has been shooting SNL’s hosts and musical company for 25 years. Oz Rodriquez
The guide follows within the footsteps of SNL’s fiftieth anniversary particular and options dozens of the practically 4,000 portraits Matthews has created of the show’s hosts and musical company through the years.
It’s “the best job in the world and, quite certainly, the only one like it,” Matthews, who makes use of each real-life props and digital modifying to create the portraits, writes within the guide’s introduction.
There’s not often a boring second in her workday. While many of the pictures are shot within the studio, Matthews loves getting exterior and incorporating parts of town. She fondly remembers capturing Jim Carrey hailing a cab with a llama named Pierre within the pouring rain and snapping Jason Momoa with a guitar on the sting of Top of the Rock.
“His security and our security were like terrified,” she stated.
Here, she shares six different pictures — and the tales behind them — with The Post.
Tina Fey
From the guide ‘The Art of the SNL Portrait’ (Abrams) by Mary Ellen Matthews, on-sale now. © 2025 Mary Ellen Matthews.
When the previous solid member — who has long been rumored as a high contender to exchange Michaels when he retires — hosted in 2018, Matthews needed to create an image out of a high-brow fashion magazine from the Nineteen Forties or ’50s. She thought it’d be “sweet” to have Fey holding a fowl however needed one thing more “ridiculous” than a little bluebird or peaceable dove. “I thought … how can we push that into a more playful place? And then I thought, it’s a big bird. And then what’s the most ridiculous bird that she could be holding? A vulture?” So, a stock photograph of the scavenger was digitally added to the shot. “It’s fun just to kind of keep twisting things,” Matthews stated.
Alec Baldwin
From the guide ‘The Art of the SNL Portrait’ (Abrams) by Mary Ellen Matthews, on-sale now. © 2025 Mary Ellen Matthews.
Baldwin has hosted the show 17 instances — more than anybody else. When he did the honors in 2009, he had the concept for a “Godfather” re-creation and Matthews was more than completely happy to make it occur, together with her own twist. Instead of utilizing a actual cat, as within the opening scene of the Francis Ford Coppola traditional, she opted for a clearly faux stuffed kitty. “I don’t like to make these re-creations too close to the original,” she writes. “It’s got to have something that’s off or not quite right.”
Billie Eilish
From the guide ‘The Art of the SNL Portrait’ (Abrams) by Mary Ellen Matthews, on-sale now. © 2025 Mary Ellen Matthews.
When the Grammy and Oscar-winner carried out on the show in December 2023, it was proper earlier than Christmas, a vacation Matthews famous that Eilish loves. “Sp, I got all this fake snow and thought, maybe, let’s do a snow angel,’” Matthews recalled. “And then I said, ‘Let’s just bury you,’ and she had this bright, illuminated smile and those beautiful eyes. I just love it.”
Melissa McCarthy
From the guide ‘The Art of the SNL Portrait’ (Abrams) by Mary Ellen Matthews, on-sale now. © 2025 Mary Ellen Matthews.
Matthews had the concept to recreate photographer Diane Arbus’s iconic “Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J., 1967” shot and McCarthy, who hosted in 2017, was the proper artistic companion. “She could emote the those two twins in a comedic way … she’s just an absolute genius,” Matthews stated, including that hair and wardrobe “nailed it. “
Justin Bieber
From the guide ‘The Art of the SNL Portrait’ (Abrams) by Mary Ellen Matthews, on-sale now. © 2025 Mary Ellen Matthews.
The pop star carried out on the show in 2020, and Matthews was impressed by a cloud-print swimsuit the wardrobe stylist had for him. “I thought, I’ve got to tie this in as a background or have him float,” she stated. For the shoot, Bieber bounced on a mini trampoline and the cloudy background was added digitally.
Travis Kelce
From the guide ‘The Art of the SNL Portrait’ (Abrams) by Mary Ellen Matthews, on-sale now. © 2025 Mary Ellen Matthews.
Matthews was fascinated with Jim Morrison when she got here up with this idea for the Super Bowl winner and multihyphenate, who hosted in 2023. “[I thought] what if Travis lit his stogie off of his flaming football [instead of a guitar],” she writes. “Very b—-s.”
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