Book — THE CAMERAMAN IN CLOGS

THE STORY

Mel Brooks gave him a blessing. Keith Richards left him a souvenir. Gerald Ford asked him to be an advisor. Patrick Ewing provided the perfect shot. He nearly hit the Empire State Building spire in a runaway blimp. Got thrown off a film set by Al Pacino. Got rope-a-doped by Muhammad Ali. And walked away from shoots he should never have taken.

For fifty years, Jeff Schwartz went wherever the camera took him.

But some of the moments that stayed with him didn't involve celebrities at all. They were with the people most of us pass by. Veterans, trafficking survivors, prisoners, and men and women living on the streets. People who taught him more than anyone in front of a spotlight ever could.

It's what happens when you spend a lifetime watching instead of living. When you're so busy documenting everyone else's moments that you miss too many of your own.

Film isn't memory. A shot isn't presence. And you can't hug your daughters with a camera between you.

Funny. Honest. Heartbreaking. Real.

From the kid shooting bar mitzvahs and weddings to the cameraman who filmed it all. This is the story behind the lens.

BOOK DETAILS

• Genre: Memoir / Behind-the-Scenes / Film & Television

• ISBN: [TK]

WHERE TO BUY

[Amazon] | [Barnes & Noble] | | [Independent Bookstores]

EARLY READER REACTION

You know that person at a dinner party who has the best stories. The one who makes you lean in and forget your phone exists? That's Schwartz. That's this book. Eighty-two chapters. Most take five minutes to read. You will not stop at one.

You're there when Al Pacino locks eyes with him and won't look away. You're riding in a tap-tap in Haiti when a woman falls, and everything goes wrong. You're in an office with Snoop Dogg when the room gets so hotboxed the crew forgets what they're filming. You're backstage at New York fashion shows, on Super Bowl sidelines, inside homeless shelters and prison cells.

These aren't polished essays. They're lightning-fast dispatches from fifty years of being everywhere you wish you'd been, and some places you're glad you weren't. Movie sets with Spielberg and Scorsese. NBA courts. Fashion runways. Hanging from helicopters, airplanes, and blimps.

You’ll finish it in two sittings. You'll remember it for years. You'll want to hand it to someone and say, “Just read the first three chapters and tell me you can stop.”