Behind the Lens: 5 Unforgettable Moments from Hollywood's 2026 Awards Season
As a staff photojournalist for The Associated Press based in Los Angeles, Chris Pizzello covers hundreds of entertainment events annually. His work involves perching in rafters, crouching on red carpets, and directing stars to create perfect portraits. The culmination is awards season, where he captures defining moments in celebrities' lives, from Beyoncé and Bad Bunny's Grammy triumphs to the envelope snafu and The Slap at the Oscars. Ahead of Sunday's Oscars, Pizzello breaks down his favorite photos from the 2026 awards season thus far.
Critics Choice Awards: Amy Madigan's Surprise Victory
One of the cool aspects of shooting the Critics Choice Awards in January is that the few photographers allowed inside are placed right in the middle of the room, surrounded by tables of celebrities. Typically, at awards shows, photographers are positioned far behind the action, requiring massive 600 mm lenses on monopods to scope out celebrities. Pizzello usually tries to predict winners right before announcements to capture instant reactions, a favorite type of entertainment photo. For the supporting actress category, he thought Teyana Taylor was likely to win, since her film "One Battle After Another" had been winning many critics' awards. He had his lens trained on her near the stage but knew Amy Madigan was close to his left. When Madigan's name was announced for "Weapons," he swung his lens over quickly, capturing her surprise and the reactions of those at her table, especially her young co-star Cary Christopher in shades.
Golden Globes: Teyana Taylor's Triumphant Pose
Every awards season features one nominee having more fun than everyone else, and this year, that person is Taylor. Awards season often becomes a slog for most nominees, with flagging energy as February churns into March, leading to slumped shoulders and forced smiles. However, this does not apply to Taylor, who has been the red carpet star of the 2026 awards season, being the most fashionable, energetic, and happiest to be there. Entertainment photographers wake up when she arrives, and she knows what she's doing. Pizzello likes a frame from the Golden Globes photo room because it conveys Taylor's exuberance without showing her face. She had just won supporting actress for "One Battle After Another" and posed energetically, giving photographers about ten different looks before striking a triumphant pose.
Oscar Nominees Luncheon: Connecting with Ethan Hawke
Some of the best vibes of awards season are found at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon, customarily held at the storied Beverly Hilton. Nominees stroll around makeshift studios set up by media outlets for interviews, with a few like the AP allowed to shoot brief portraits. It's a crapshoot, as every outlet fights for the same nominees. This year, best actor nominee Ethan Hawke was one of the first to visit the AP studio, arriving so early that the lighting wasn't fine-tuned yet. Since shoots are brief, Pizzello tried to get Hawke on his side immediately, mentioning how he felt Hawke was robbed a few years ago for not being nominated for "First Reformed." Hawke chuckled in agreement and has an interesting way of chatting and posing simultaneously, a quality noted by fellow photographers. In this frame, Hawke laughed mid-conversation, giving the portrait a relaxed, spontaneous feel.
Grammys: Justin Bieber's Stripped-Down Performance
The Grammys are always a busy, chaotic, three-hour-plus show with elaborate sets, constant lighting and costume changes, pyrotechnic displays, and sometimes hundreds on stage for a single production number. It was a radical move when Justin Bieber performed wearing nothing but a guitar and his boxers. His performance was so stripped-down that there wasn't much to shoot other than tight shots of Bieber moodily leaning into his microphone. Near the end of the song, as Pizzello switched lenses, he looked up and noticed the wider context of a lone, small figure alone on the stage, dimly lit by a spotlight overhead. Shooting Bieber in boxers in front of a sea of black hopefully conveys the guts it took for him to perform in front of a packed arena and a live, worldwide audience.
Actor Awards: Michael B. Jordan's Mind-Blown Reaction
It had all been getting too predictable. While there was variability in supporting actor wins, the leads seemed locked in since early January: Jessie Buckley and Timothée Chalamet. Buckley prevailed again at the Actor Awards, but a big surprise occurred when Viola Davis presented male actor in a leading role. Pizzello's lens was trained on Chalamet, thinking the only possible upset could be Leonardo DiCaprio for "One Battle After Another," but Leo wasn't even in the building. Davis suddenly called out Michael B. Jordan's name for "Sinners," and the ballroom erupted. No one saw it coming, least of all Jordan, who is usually a cool customer. It was fun to shoot his genuinely gobsmacked reaction at the podium, making the Actor Awards this year like a conventional Hollywood film with an out-of-nowhere twist ending.
