This is a bit of older news, but its really good so who cares? Last year, we showed you that photographer/filmmaker Alex Prager shot leading Hollywood stars for the NY Times Magazine, stars who represented the year that was in 2011. That meant Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, and, of course, Rooney Mara. The photographs were, of course, stunning, but the short conceptual films that Prager shot with each actor/actress are quite brilliant as well....

Few photographers create the cinematic scenery that Alex Prager depicts in her work. Part film noir, part Wizard of Oz circa 2025, Prager has taken an aesthetic and made it one of the most recognizable in the world of contemporary photography. That is hard to do in this day and age. Right now, her Compulsion series is on simultaneous display at three galleries: Michael Hoppen Gallery, London until May 26, at New York’s Yancey Richardson Gallery until May 19, and M+B Gallery, LA until May 12.

Alex Prager, one of our favorite fine art photographers who shot Robert Williams's portraits for our special issue in November 2009, just completed a series of short videos and portraits for the New York Times Magazine's annual Hollywood issue. Prager shot films and portraits of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Gary Oldman, Ryan Gosling, Viola Davis, Glenn Close, and other 2011 award season hopefuls.

Vanessa Prager (sister of photographer Alex Prager) has a habit of one-night shows. The next one, Love You Too, harmonizes her ink drawings with Ali Helnwein’s string quartet, the LA Contemporary Ensemble. With us, she talks of dreams, butts, Japan, and her friend Nigel Godrich of Radiohead.

Tommy Tung interviewed Alex Prager here about her upcoming exhibition, Week-end. Below, he shares the method of his madness, because the shortest path between him and his article is never a straight line.

Alex Prager harnesses solar energy. Face her smile and feel it -- sunshine at point blank range. Your eyes will continue working though, and for the better too, as it happens with her photography. That luminosity is inescapable. You’re not avoiding it anyway. You’re called to the siren song, despite the silence, for even the nocturnal pieces of Week-end kindle.