by Jerome D.
Introduction
Greg Williams (b. 14 August 1972) is the most trusted candid photographer in Hollywood — an English photographer and filmmaker whose access to the film and entertainment world is so deep and so personal that some of his subjects, including Tom Hardy, work exclusively with him for any shoot. He is the official photographer to BAFTA, has shot poster campaigns for four James Bond films, has photographed at the Oscars, the Golden Globes, and the Met Gala for over two decades, and has published work in Vanity Fair, British Vogue, GQ, Vogue Italia, and Esquire.
He knew he wanted to be a photographer from the age of six — when a distant cousin arrived from Canada with an armoury of SLR cameras, long zoom lenses, big flashguns, and a flashy Polaroid, and three weeks later sent him a battered old 110 Instamatic that was missing pieces but still worked. "And that's where my interest started. I knew I wanted to be a photographer from six years old which, I now realise, is very rare."
By eight he knew what a Leica camera was. He was 32 before he could afford one.
He studied photography formally and began his career in the 1990s as a war photographer, covering conflicts in Myanmar, Chechnya, and Sierra Leone — an origin story that gave him the ability to work fast under pressure, to build trust instantly with people in extreme situations, and to find and frame the decisive image in conditions where there is no time to prepare. These are exactly the skills his Hollywood work requires.
His entry into entertainment photography came through a Sunday Times Magazine assignment that gave him first access to the film industry. He shot his first Bond film — Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan — and never looked back. Over the following two decades he established himself as the defining photographer of the modern Hollywood candid: images that felt genuinely unguarded, made in hotel rooms, dressing rooms, backstage at awards ceremonies, and on set between takes — in the moments before and after the performance, when the subject's guard was actually down.
He was a pioneer of cine-photography — extracting stills from high-resolution video footage rather than shooting conventional stills — and was the first photographer to use the RED Epic camera's digital still-motion capture capability for this purpose. His short film Tell Tale was the first project ever shot on a RED Epic capable of recording 5,000 lines of resolution.
In 2021, he co-designed the Daniel Craig × Greg Williams limited edition Leica Q2 — a 750-piece all-black, gold-inlay edition produced to mark the end of Craig's Bond tenure — a collaboration that confirmed both his position in the Bond world and his relationship with the Leica brand. He runs the education platform Skills Faster, teaching his candid photography approach through online courses.
As he described his practice to Stuff magazine: "I dart in with a camera and leave two minutes later with a really cool picture."
Camera Gear Used by Greg Williams
Williams's gear is documented with unusual precision across multiple primary sources: his own website (gregwilliams.com), the Stuff magazine interview, the Leica Camera UK "Moments in the Spotlight" article confirming his full Q-series progression, and The Rake's profile of the Daniel Craig × Greg Williams Leica Q2 collaboration. He sells Leica cameras through his website and describes his working relationship with specific bodies in detail.
Primary Camera: Leica Q Series (Q → Q2 → Q3)
Leica Q (original) — His first Q-series camera, confirmed by the Leica Camera UK article: "Since the launch of the Leica Q series, Greg has consistently owned Leica Q cameras. He began with the original Q." CNN confirmed his early Q use in a 2016 profile: "Taken with his Leica Q camera, Williams is granted access to Amber Heard on her way to the Golden Globes." He also confirmed the Q on Twitter in 2015 — the earliest primary source for his Leica Q ownership.
Leica Q2 — His primary camera for the majority of his celebrated Hollywood work, confirmed by multiple primary sources. His own website states: "Greg shoots over 50% of his pictures on the Leica Q2." His own words to Stuff magazine: "I mostly use a Q2 with a fixed 28mm lens. It's small, light, unobtrusive and you know the millisecond you push the shutter it's captured the shot."
His specific working technique with the Q2 is as precisely documented as any photographer in this series. He works at close range — "I shoot really close up, generally around 0.7 metres" — using the Q2's 28mm Summilux f/1.7 lens at that distance to produce the specific spatial relationship between subject and background that defines his images: faces large in the frame, the environment present but compressed, backgrounds rendered smooth by the fast aperture. "I want the audience to feel like they are breathing the same air as the subject."
The Q2 suited this working method because of its combination of compact size, quiet operation, fixed lens (no decision to make about which focal length to use), and the immediacy of its shutter response. In a hotel room or a dressing room, with two minutes and a subject who may be distracted or resistant, the Q2's operational simplicity allowed him to focus entirely on the human encounter. In his own words, from his website: "I dart in with the Q2, stay for about two minutes and leave with a great picture."
He also co-designed the Daniel Craig × Greg Williams limited edition Leica Q2 (2021) — limited to 750 units, in all-black with gold inlay, accompanied by a black leather strap with gilded eyelets. It was described as marking the end of Craig's Bond tenure and was a direct expression of the Q2's centrality to Williams's professional identity.
Leica Q3 — His current confirmed camera, replacing the Q2 as his primary shooting tool. Leica Camera UK confirmed in 2023: "He began with the original Q, later moving on to the Q2 and has now added the latest addition to his collection, the Leica Q3. Greg takes us behind the scenes at the Cannes Film Festival and the 2023 Met Gala to put the new Leica Q3 to the test." The Q3 upgrades the Q2's sensor to 60 megapixels and adds a rear touchscreen, while retaining the same fixed Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens and the same fundamental working philosophy.
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| Leica Q3 Find it at Amazon |
Portrait Camera: Leica SL2
Leica SL2 with 75mm and 90mm lenses — His confirmed portrait camera, described directly in the Stuff interview: "For portraits I switch to an SL2 with 75mm and 90mm lenses." His own website confirms the role: "Greg considers the SL2 the ultimate portrait camera and an ideal partner for the Q2." His direct quote from the website product page: "The speed I can work with the SL2 is amazing, especially with the new generation of autofocus lenses." And: "The thing I love, probably the most is that it previews the image in the eyepiece, and I see a really good quality finished picture, so I know I've got the shot."
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| Leica SL2 Find one at MPB |
The SL2 on the L-mount system, with the 75mm and 90mm lenses, gives him the portrait compression — slightly longer working distance, flattering facial rendering — that the Q2's fixed 28mm cannot provide. The two cameras are explicitly complementary: Q2 for the candid, fast, close-range work that is the majority of his practice; SL2 for the more formal portrait assignments where focal length versatility and autofocus performance are the priority.
Early Cine-Photography: RED Epic
RED Epic — Confirmed by Wikipedia as the camera used for his short film Tell Tale — the first project ever shot on a RED Epic capable of recording 5,000 lines of resolution. He was a pioneer of cine-photography: extracting high-resolution stills from motion footage rather than shooting conventional stills. This technique — which he developed before it became common — gave him the ability to capture expressions and gestures that no still camera shutter could time precisely enough to catch. His candid Hollywood images sometimes appear too perfectly timed to have been captured in a single frame; some were extracted from motion footage using the RED system.
Working Approach: Minimum Equipment
Williams is emphatic about the irrelevance of equipment to the quality of his results. His online course, Candid Photography Skills, is explicitly built around the premise that great images can be made with a phone. "The idea is you can take great photos in any scenario without any specialist equipment." He describes teaching people to think like a photographer — about empathy, positioning, timing, and trust — rather than about technical specifications.
His philosophy on equipment is consistent and candid: "I love all the shiny kit, and when you're younger you think you need it, but you don't. It helps you, but not having it shouldn't hinder you."
Technique and Style
Greg Williams's photography is defined by a single quality that has nothing to do with cameras or lenses: the ability to make a subject genuinely forget they are being photographed. His images of Hollywood stars — in hotel rooms, backstage at the Oscars, on planes, in bathrooms, between takes on set — have a quality of authentic unguardedness that is almost unique in celebrity portraiture.
This quality is the product of extraordinary social skill rather than technical virtuosity. He describes his process as one of empathy and speed: "Empathy plays a bigger part than my photography skills." He has photographed major Hollywood actresses minutes before a premiere — met them in the dressing room, and within sixty seconds been photographing them brushing their teeth. The trust this requires is built almost instantaneously, through the specific quality of his presence and the clarity of his intention.
His working method is radically compact. He arrives with the Q2 (or Q3) and the SL2. He works in available light — "I try to bring authenticity to everything I shoot" — and he is in and out in minutes. "Getting a great picture only takes a couple of minutes." This speed is not impatience but expertise: he knows precisely what he is looking for, he positions himself for it, and he leaves when he has it.
His closeness to subjects — working at 0.7 metres with the 28mm Q2 — is both a technical choice and a philosophical one. At that distance, the 28mm includes the subject's full environment in the frame while keeping their face large and immediate. The viewer is placed inside the scene rather than outside it. "You will often see a first person interaction with the lens. I want the audience to feel like they are breathing the same air as the subject."
He does minimal retouching — a conscious philosophical choice that extends his commitment to authenticity from the moment of capture into the post-processing stage. "If you do too much of it, you leave the world of reality."
His war photography background is inseparable from his Hollywood practice. The ability to read a scene instantly, to position himself for access and safety simultaneously, to build trust under time pressure, and to press the shutter at exactly the right moment — all of these were developed in conflict zones and transferred intact to red carpets and dressing rooms. The subject matter changed; the underlying skills did not.
How to Imitate His Style in Post-Processing
Williams's images have a specific, recognisable quality: authentically lit, minimally retouched, with the specific rendering of the Leica Q series' Summilux 28mm lens at close range. Pixlr is an excellent tool for approaching his aesthetic:
Preserve natural skin tones above all.
His portraits succeed because the skin tones look real — not corrected, not warmed, not smoothed. In Pixlr's White Balance tool, prioritise accuracy over flattery. The colour temperature should match the actual light in the room: warm for tungsten hotel rooms, cooler for daylight on a red carpet. Resist any warm tinting applied for cosmetic effect.
Do not retouch the face.
His stated commitment to minimal retouching — leaving lines, shadows, and asymmetries intact — is a direct extension of his candid philosophy. In Pixlr, avoid any skin-smoothing or blemish-removal tools on faces. The face as it is, in the available light, is the subject. Retouching removes the quality of authenticity that makes his images compelling.
Expose for the face, not the room.
His images consistently prioritise the exposure of the subject's face, even when the background is brighter or darker. In Pixlr's Curves tool, set the midtone brightness around the face and let the room fall where it will. A slightly underexposed background or a slightly blown highlight in the environment is acceptable if the face is correctly exposed.
Work at close range before post-processing.
The spatial quality of his images — face large, environment present but compressed — comes from his working distance of 0.7 metres, not from post-processing crop decisions. The closest approximation in editing is to resist the impulse to crop tighter and instead preserve the full environmental context that his wide 28mm captured.
How to Shoot Like Greg Williams
Build trust in sixty seconds.
His most celebrated images were made within minutes of meeting the subject. The preparation for those sixty seconds is everything that comes before — the reputation, the body of work, the personal recommendation from another subject who trusted him. Before any portrait session, think about what the subject's experience of being photographed is normally like, and how you can make it different.
Work at 0.7 metres.
His specific working distance — confirmed in his own interview — is unusually close for a celebrity portrait. At 0.7 metres with a 28mm lens on a full-frame camera, the subject fills the frame while the environment remains readable. Practice this distance until it feels natural. It is closer than most photographers are comfortable with, and that discomfort is part of what makes it effective: subjects who are used to photographers standing at a polite distance are surprised by the closeness, and that surprise produces an expression of genuine reaction.
Get access to the behind-the-scenes.
His images are made in places most photographers cannot reach — hotel rooms, dressing rooms, planes, backstage areas. The photographs are the product of the access; the access is the product of two decades of trust-building and reputation. Think about what access you have that other photographers do not — the environments where you are known, trusted, and welcomed — and photograph there.
Leave quickly.
"Getting a great picture only takes a couple of minutes." The discipline of leaving when you have the image — rather than continuing to shoot in the hope of something better — is one of the most valuable habits a portrait photographer can develop. It respects the subject's time, it prevents the diminishing returns of overstaying, and it builds the reputation for efficiency and consideration that generates repeat access.
Use one camera for 50% of your work.
His confirmed split — over 50% of images on the Q2/Q3 — reflects a deliberate simplification. For the majority of situations, the fixed 28mm lens and the compact Q body are sufficient. The SL2 with longer lenses is reserved for specific portrait assignments. Match the tool to the requirement rather than carrying everything on every shoot.
Retouch less than feels right.
His explicit commitment to minimal retouching — leaving reality visible — is as much a technical instruction as a philosophical one. Train yourself to stop retouching earlier than instinct suggests. The faces that last in memory are the ones that look like real people in real light, not the faces that look like they have been improved.
Legacy
Greg Williams's legacy is the reinvention of celebrity portraiture around the concept of authenticity — and the demonstration that the most powerful images of famous people are made in the moments when they are not being famous.
His influence on how Hollywood is photographed is substantial and largely invisible: the style of candid, behind-the-scenes, available-light celebrity portraiture that now appears across social media, digital magazines, and award ceremony coverage owes a significant debt to the approach he developed over twenty years of unprecedented access. He popularised a mode of celebrity photography that was less formal, less retouched, and more humanising than the studio portrait tradition — and he did it from the inside, because the subjects trusted him.
His position as official BAFTA photographer gives him a sustained institutional presence in British film culture that extends beyond any individual commission. His Bond work — four poster campaigns, and the Daniel Craig × Greg Williams Leica Q2 — places him within the iconography of one of cinema's most durable franchises. His war photography origins give his glamorous entertainment work a grounding that prevents it from becoming merely decorative.
His Skills Faster education platform — teaching candid photography principles through online courses — has extended his influence to a very large audience of photographers who may never have access to a film set or a BAFTA dressing room, but who can apply his principles of empathy, speed, and minimal equipment to whatever subjects and environments they do have access to.
He has photographed virtually every significant figure in contemporary English-speaking entertainment: Daniel Craig, Tom Hardy, Kate Winslet, Ryan Gosling, Robert Downey Jr., Megan Fox, Sean Penn, David Beckham. The breadth of that list is less remarkable than the depth of the access it represents.
Books and Projects by Greg Williams
Hollywood Authentic (2017, Reel Art Press) — His major monograph, collecting candid portraits and behind-the-scenes images from over fifteen years of entertainment photography. The title is the most direct possible statement of his photographic philosophy.
Daniel Craig × Greg Williams Leica Q2 (2021, limited edition of 750) — The co-designed limited edition Leica Q2, produced in collaboration with Daniel Craig to mark the end of Craig's Bond tenure. All black with gold inlay, accompanied by a black leather strap with gilded eyelets. Sold out.
Tell Tale (short film, 2012) — The first project ever shot on a RED Epic camera capable of recording 5,000 lines of resolution. A landmark in cine-photography and a demonstration of Williams's technical innovation alongside his visual talent.
Skills Faster — Candid Photography Skills (online course) — His comprehensive photography education programme, teaching the empathy-first, minimal-equipment approach that underlies his professional practice. Available at skillsfaster.com.
Where to See Greg Williams's Work
- Website: gregwilliams.com — his official site, with full portfolio, education resources, and the GWP shop where he sells Leica cameras and accessories.
- Instagram: @gregwilliams_insight — his active Instagram account, one of the most consistently interesting celebrity photography feeds on the platform.
- YouTube: @GWTVUK — his YouTube channel, with candid interviews, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes content including his Hollywood Authentic series.
- Hollywood Authentic (YouTube): @hollywoodauthentic — short-form talent documentaries and self-filmed interviews.
- Skills Faster: skillsfaster.com — his Candid Photography Skills online course.
Conclusion
Greg Williams shoots over 50% of his images on a Leica Q3 (previously Q2) with its fixed Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens, working at a confirmed distance of 0.7 metres from his subjects. For formal portrait work he switches to a Leica SL2 with 75mm and 90mm lenses. He was an early pioneer of cine-photography using the RED Epic camera to extract high-resolution stills from motion footage. He was one of the first photographers to use the original Leica Q professionally, progressing through the Q2 — including a co-designed limited edition with Daniel Craig — to the current Q3.
His equipment is simple by the standards of professional entertainment photography. His access is extraordinary by the standards of any photography. The combination has produced some of the most compelling celebrity portraits of the past twenty years — images that look like moments stolen rather than photographs made, because the trust that precedes them is real.
"Empathy plays a bigger part than my photography skills."
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