A new photo book takes you behind the scenes of some of cinema's most beloved films, from 'Fargo' to 'Charlie's Angels'

For more than 40 years, LA-based set decorator Lauri Gaffin has quietly shaped the worlds we see on the silver screen – from the frozen expanses of Fargo to the sun-soaked beaches of Thor. But Gaffin is also a photographer who's turned her lens toward the backgrounds of popular culture.

Now, that photography has been collected in a new book, which launched during Paris Photo, Moving Still: A Cinematic Life Frame-by-Frame. Gaffin captures the fleeting, unguarded moments that often go unseen, transporting readers from Edmonton’s icy plains to Louisiana’s swamps and the Martian landscape of the Mojave Desert. Beyond extraordinary sets, Gaffin documents the intricate interplay between directors, actors, designers and crew on projects ranging from The Pursuit of Happyness to Iron Man – the moments of laughter and stillness amid the chaos of production.

The book chronicles the reptilian alien from 2001 sci-fi film Evolution, discarded on the floor between takes, and the submerged plane that strands Harrison Ford and Anne Heche in the survival odyssey Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), swarmed with crew trying to navigate the challenging set. Gaffin also captures the stylised, high-gloss milieu of Charlie’s Angels (2000), the bizarre alternate world of Land of the Lost (2009) and the shiny, futuristic universe of Captain Marvel (2019).

The book functions as a behind-the-scenes retrospective, pairing Gaffin’s photographs with personal reflections from the moments they were taken, as well as candid insights into her own life – navigating her parents’ declining health, complex relationships and the emotional demands of filmmaking. Moving Still also includes texts by writer and fellow set decorator Florence Fellman, with a foreword by LACMA curator Britt Salvesen.

Gaffin’s photography balances spectacle and intimacy, becoming both a record of her craft and a medium of personal expression. The book celebrates the magic of cinema, honours those who bring it to life, and offers a deeply human story told through the lens of one of Hollywood’s keenest eyes.