©Lauri Gaffin, Pool, Land of the Lost, 2009, published by Damiani Books

© Photo by Ben Woolverton, Author with a friend on the set of Evolution, published by Damini Books

Growing up in Los Angeles, my world was always surrounded by the movie and television industry. My high school was often used a a location for movies and television shows — the final carnival scene in Grease was filmed on my high school football field and many classmates showed up on various sized screens (Leonard DiCaprio was an alumni). One of my first jobs was in a department store on Hollywood and Vine and each night, I’d step out on the sidewalks covered with stars. Needless to say, discovering Lauri Gaffin’s new book, Moving Still, by Damiani Books was a thrill. The book includes both color and black and white photographs taken on movie sets, but it also is a parallel journey, featuring not only the photographs captured during her 40 year career as a set decorator, but accompanied by an inner narration of her life that was occuring during these productions. She worked with long time friend and set decorator Florence Fellman to unearth her memories. Moving Still is both a diary and visual love letter to film…and memory.

In addition to the book Moving Still, Gaffin has a large exhibition under the same title at Gallerie XII in Los Angeles that runs through January, 2026.

An interview with the artist follows.

©Lauri Gaffin, Moving Still Cover, published by Damiani Books

Lauri Gaffin (b. 1951, Los Angeles) is a set decorator and photographer with four decades in film. Her work appears in Fargo, The Pursuit of Happyness, Six Days Seven Nights, The Ring II, Charlie’s Angels, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain Marvel. In Moving Still, she explores the craft of filmmaking and collaboration. Trained at UCLA with Robert Heinecken and at CalArts with John Baldessari, her work is currently exhibited at Galerie XII and is in the permanent collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Instagram: @gaffinlauri

©Lauri Gaffin,  Big Boy with Production designer Bo Welch, Land of the Lost, 2009, published by Damiani Books

Moving Still: A Cinematic Life Frame-by-Frame by Lauri Gaffin (Damiani Books, 2025) is a personal portrait of filmmaking from a celebrated American set decorator. With four decades of experience on set, Gaffin intertwines stunning behind-the-scenes photographs and intimate narrative to provide a rare glimpse into the fascinating world of cinema.

The book explores life on set for 13 productions from 1996-2019, highlighting indie gems like Fargo and blockbuster hits such as Charlie’s Angels, Iron Man, and Thor. Through her photographs and engaging anecdotes, Gaffin unveils the collaborative spirit that binds directors, actors, production designers and crew members together. The contrast of her thriving career and complex emotional life are a throughline in the book. Gaffin’s photography remains a steadfast beacon of inspiration even as she navigates the demands of production—deadlines, budgets and politics—and her family’s escalating turmoil.

Highlights of the book include images and memories of filming Fargo in the “frozen silence and deep isolation of the north in winter,” a shock to the system for a Southern Californian; Gaffin’s realization that “my immersion in the frivolity of Charlie’s Angels was the antidote to the crises evolving within my family;” and creating banquet scenes for Thor from Target shopping sprees, “our lofty source for mythological-style cutlery—we bought thirty faux reindeer-antler carving sets. Nothing but the best for our gods and goddesses.”

As Britt Salvesen, Curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department and the Prints and Drawings Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, writes in the introduction, “Lauri’s guiding principles as a set decorator—beauty, emotion, clarity, truth, color, imagination—contribute to the overall success of the films highlighted in this book. The same qualities pervade the accompanying personal photographs… [Moving Still] is so much more than an illustrated filmography. It is a loving tribute to moviemaking and photography and a reflective account of self-discovery.”

©Lauri Gaffin, Mock Space Landing, 2013

“This is a visual diary of my thirty-five years as a set decorator for feature films. It’s also, almost accidentally, a chronicle of the emotional life I led while pursuing success in the world of make-believe,” writes Gaffin. “I’ve always been an observer and I love photography because no one can tell me how to feel when I look through the viewfinder. In the moment I click the shutter I give myself over to spontaneity and intuition, to perceive  without judging myself or being judged. Photography is my language, it’s where I allow my internal life to come into focus.”

©Lauri Gaffin, Peter Stormare, Fargo, 1996, published by Damiani Books

How did you get interested in photography?

I was already a young artist in high school. Then, when I was sixteen, my Spanish teacher Senorita Ramirez facilitated my winning a scholarship for a summer abroad at University of Madrid. I bought a Kodak Instamatic camera and I was excited to share photos with my parents who were both struggling financially and never had the opportunity to travel themselves. I saw myself as a sort of an ambassador to Europe for them.

I shot photos of Velazquez paintings in Madrid and of the dramatically fanciful Gaudi architecture in Barcelona. I made sure other students shot photos of me eating Paella, eating a banana with a fork and knife and buying a leather covered wine bottle at the flea market.

©Lauri Gaffin, Roger Deakins Cinematographer, Fargo, 1996, published by Damiani Books

I’m interested in how you got interested in set decorating?

I was always showbusiness adjacent having grown up in Los Angeles. After getting an MA from CalArts, my first real job was working for a fashion designer, Harriet Selwyn and at the same time shooting for WWD, shooting ads for Robert’s restaurant and West Beach Café in Venice. Then I landed a job with Producer Joann Carelli and Director Michael Cimino on the great debacle film Heaven’s Gate.  After that I worked as an assistant to Director Hal Ashby for four years.

Those experiences were my film school. I discovered that Set Decorating for film was the perfect job for me in that it galvanized my love of film and design. Behind the scenes I created visual histories for each character and documented the process through my photography.

©Lauri Gaffin, Fargo, 1996, published by Damiani Books

What exactly is a set decorator?

Picture Asgard, the celestial home of the all-powerful Norse Gods, or imagine the palatial Malibu mansion of a brilliant superhero. Remember back to a traditional small-town diner or that once omnipresent Blockbuster video store. What about a circa 1980s stock trading floor with computers we don’t recognize today? All those sets are the domain of the film Set Decorator.

There is a production designer who functions as an architect but it is the set decorator who fills that space. We set decorators travel, shop, research and ultimately, we create a visual history and a back story for the actors. We are responsible for everything you see from a teacup to a piano. We transform a blank space into a believable environment so that the actors feel the authenticity themselves and the audience can suspend belief and be carried along with the film’s message.

We have a love of visual storytelling.  We work with the director, the production designer, the cinematographer and often with the actors to interpret the script, create the visual atmosphere, context and period-specific details that enhance the storytelling and immerse the audience in the world of the production.

©Lauri Gaffin, Joel Coen, Director/Writer, Fargo, 1996

Does a film crew become family?

I was fortunate enough to work on 10 films with the same production designer, Michael Riva. There was a real collaborative spirit in the art department and among the director, actors, and crew members. It was the perfect antidote of consistency and creativity to the growing turmoil in my personal life. Set decorating and photography were a steadfast beacon of inspiration as I tried to navigate both my mother and my father’s growing mental illness.

©Lauri Gaffin, Ice, Land of the Lost, 2009

Do you have a favorite film project?

I have worked on vastly different kinds of films but FARGO will always stand out for me as meaningful. I was amazed at the Coen brother’s creative process—their ability to  conceptualize the film from writing to shooting and have the result be exactly what they intended. It was my first major artistic film and I felt I made a real contribution to the story telling.

©Lauri Gaffin, Sweet Licks, Land of the Lost, 2009

©Lauri Gaffin, SFX, Land of the Lost, 2009

©Lauri Gaffin, Devils Canyon Mystery Cave Gift Shop, Land of the Lost, 2009

©Lauri Gaffin, Motel, Land of the Lost, 2009

©Lauri Gaffin, Natasha Romanoff, Iron Man, 2008

©Lauri Gaffin, La Posta Vecchia Hotel, 2007

©Lauri Gaffin, Nicholas Hoult, Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue, 2019

©Photo by Anthony Carlino, Back Cover the author on the set of Land of the Lost, published by Damiani Books

Florence Fellman is a writer and set decorator who co-wrote Moving Still with longtime friend and colleague Lauri Gaffin. Fellman’s set decorating resume includes small independent films, like Leaving Las Vegas, as well as blockbuster hits like The Fast and The Furious. She has always believed that the best part of being involved in any movie is the story behind the story—there is always as much drama behind the scenes as there is in front of the camera.

“Florence Fellman is a set decorator in her own right. However, she began collaborating with me on my films several years ago.”

I’ve always wanted to create a book of photographs about my history in film as a set decorator. Florence and I started talking about it on our daily morning bike rides on the Santa Monica bike path.  When Covid hit it seemed like the perfect time to contemplate this book in a real way.

I am a purely visual person and photography has always been my voice. Florence has always been a writer. She was convinced that my personal life was interesting (read tumultuous) enough to include in shaping this book. She became my literary voice.”

Instagram: @artsofadventure