The Associated Press was selected to take all photographs of the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday, trusted to capture the event on behalf of members of the photography pool.
AP delivered 1,500 photos to 11 pool members, satisfying each organizations’ specific needs while ensuring high-quality images were delivered quickly.
“The Academy Awards is the culmination of awards season and the largest production of the year for entertainment in the U.S.,” said Ali Kaufman, AP assistant director of photography for entertainment. “This year, because of the pandemic, the event was unlike any other we will likely experience and we wanted to capture the historic nature of the event from as many angles as we could.”
Director/Producer Chloe Zhao, winner of the award for best picture for “Nomadland,” poses in the press room at the Oscars, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)
Internationally, AP photographers were the only photojournalists on-site to capture nine Oscars viewing events to supplement coverage.
Director of Photography David Ake explained the massive undertaking:
The pool coverage required coordination between just shy of a dozen locations. The images from all of those locations had to move quickly to all of the pool members, including the AP, at the same time. To accomplish this, we established three editing hubs: one in London and two in Los Angeles. The photographers assigned to the Academy satellite locations pushed images wirelessly from their cameras directly to the editors in London. One on-site hub in LA handled the deadline images from the photographer on the red carpet and in the press room, and another hub off-site was used to edit and process the secondary edit from all locations.
To pull this off, AP’s technology team had to sync up all of the editing computers and build extra routing capacity into AP’s photo desking system.
See a selection of photos from the Academy Awards:
Carey Mulligan arrives at the Oscars, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)
Regina King, left, and Aldis Hodge arrive at the Oscars, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark Terrill, Pool)
Halle Berry arrives at the Oscars, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)
Emerald Fennell, winner of the award for best original screenplay for “Promising Young Woman,” poses in the press room at the Oscars, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)
Director/Producer Chloe Zhao, winner of the award for best picture for “Nomadland,” poses in the press room at the Oscars, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)
Yuh-Jung Youn, from left, winner of the award for best actress in a supporting role for “Minari,” Daniel Kaluuya, winner of the award for best actor in a supporting role for “Judas and the Black Messiah,” and Frances McDormand, winner of the award for best actress in a leading role for “Nomadland,” pose outside the press room at the Oscars, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)
Olivia Colman is interviewed upon arrival at a screening of the Oscars, April 26, 2021 in London. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, Pool)
Florian Zeller smiles as he holds his Oscars statuette after winning the Best Adapted Screenplay for the ‘The Father’ at a screening of the Oscars, April 26, 2021 in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, Pool)
Nominees Yorgos Lamprinos, bottom center, Adrien Merigeau, center left, Amaury Ovise, center second right, Nicolas Becker, center, and Jean-Louis Livi, top right, attend a screening of the Oscars, April 26, 2021 in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, Pool)
Isla Fisher helps make the final touches to clean the suit of Sacha Baron Cohen as they arrive to attend a screening of the Oscars, April 26, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, Pool)