PV Art Center's Amy Cantrell is the Anti-Paparazzi

by Chris Boyd News Staff Writer For the Palos Verdes Art Center's newest artist-in-residence, photography was something that came naturally. So it was with little hesitation that she accepted the job of teaching sixth-graders at both Palos Verdes and Miraleste intermediate schools about her craft as part of the PVAC's ongoing Partners in Art program. Amy Cantrell, a 40-year-old Redondo Beach resident, started snapping pictures in high school and has never looked back. She has taken shots of celebrities like sports star Magic Johnson, as well as actors James Coburn, James Earl Jones, Diane Ladd, Karl Malden and the late George Burns. Her work has appeared in magazines like Entrepreneur and Beverly Hills 213. "For the most part, photography is my profession, my life," says Cantrell, whose first shoot was a 1976 Johnny winter rock concert. These days, Cantrell makes trips to celebrity homes for photo shoots. She strives to get the rich and famous out of their standard poses used in so many publications. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of coaxing, not to mention mind games, to get her subjects to relax and be themselves. "There's a connection that you make. I don't know what it is," cantrell says. "They feel comfortable with me; they feel confident." Once she has made that elusive connection and obtained the photos, Cantrell feels spent. "I'm exhausted when I'm done," she says. "You're thinking lighting, composition - you've got to keep it in focus...Sometimes, you get the most weird challenges mantally with people." One of Cantrell's greatest successes came with actor Jack Palance, though things didn't look too promising when he showed up angry at the hotel for a photo shoot. "He just walked in, in a horrible, foul mood," she says. "My life flashed before my eyes." After ordering room service and sitting down to talk over morning coffee, however, Palance loosened up. Cantrell told him she would not take any photos until he was ready. By the time they began, she says, "He was hamming it up. He was willing to give me any [photograph] I wanted at that point." Says Cantrell, "You just feel like you become friends with them."