If you've ever flipped through a copy of Rolling Stone, stared at a Vanity Fair cover, or scrolled past a celebrity photo that made you stop in your tracks, there's a decent chance you've seen Mark Seliger's work. Over a decade as Rolling Stone's chief photographer, he shot more than 188 covers, racking up an absurdly broad roster of subjects: Kurt Cobain, Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, Drew Barrymore (and on, and on). His work now lives in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the National Portrait Gallery in London. The man is, in short, a photography legend.
So when Seliger turned his lens on celebrities in the Hamptons for a recent issue of New York Magazine — corralling everyone from John Slattery on a Boston Whaler to Donna Karan surrounded by partially clothed hunks to Katie herself mid-"meltdown" on a pickleball court — we knew we had to call him to get some behind-the-scenes tales. We talked about how a pickleball nearly took him out, why he put a man on a donkey, and what it took to get Katie cursing like a sailor.
KCM: I loved your Hamptons feature for New York Magazine. What goes into storyboarding something that complex?
Mark Seliger: Well, it's definitely a process. I'm usually on the phone going over the initial talent and a list of ideas per person, and then we kind of ping-pong back and forth. What's the story? What's the concept?
Once we knew who the subjects were, we created each person's activity: We were focused on the idea of this season and asking, "What do people do in the summertime? What are some of the things that happen in the Hamptons, from Montauk to East Hampton, that feel like a world you might not necessarily see?" Then it became about interjecting the humor. Once I get everyone's input, I go back and throw everything into the soup. We start building references, have one more conversation with the editor, and then it's off to the races.
Do you spend time in the Hamptons often? How familiar are you with it?
I'm not a Hamptons person. I'm more of a tar beach person: I enjoy being in NYC when it's completely quiet.
But I appreciate the Hamptons, and I love Montauk. I love the idea of waking up next to the water. Still, I guess because of my travel and the amount of time I spend on the road, it feels like a luxury for me to be able to spend time in New York when it's empty-ish.
What was the Hamptons "feeling" — or the Hamptons characters — that you wanted to evoke?
We had original ideas that we were suggesting, but our subjects steered us toward things they loved, and that was perfect.
For instance, with John Slattery, I originally thought about surfing because I know John is a big-time surfer. But John doesn't really want to talk about surfing or be photographed doing it. For surfers, that's kind of sacred ground. They almost have a secret society. But talking with him a little further, I found out that he has this old Boston Whaler boat that he loves to tool around in where he lives in the Hamptons. So that became the picture: this heroic moment of him touring around in his boat.
With Katie, the original idea was, "What about you with a surfboard?" She said, "Well, I don't surf. However, I love pickleball." Then I thought about some of the great moments in sports that I could draw from, and instantly went to John McEnroe having a confrontation with a line judge. I thought, OK, the antithesis of Katie Couric would be someone who's hugely frustrated on the court. You want to take someone out of the expected portrait, and instead create a moment where there's a little wink to it.
I'm a huge fan of John Early and Kate Berlant, the cover stars — what was that collaboration like?
Oh yeah, that was really interesting. We got on the phone with them and had all these ideas — somebody falling into a pool, wearing floaties, all these built-in gags. They were pretty in sync with the idea that they didn't want to go prop-heavy, but they loved the idea of playing ultra-rich people.
So we created a few different "worlds" that made sense for the Hamptons. Horse-riding was a big one, because people go out there to these famous jumping schools. And of course the cover was a spoof — that antithetical idea of the show horse and the donkey together.
Was John actually on a donkey? Or is that a composite image?
He is. That's all on-camera — I typically don't shoot composited pictures 99.99% of the time. Even the champagne splash in the poolside photo — John took that champagne right in the face probably 10 times before we saw the look on his face and I said, "I think we got it."
Those kinds of shots harken back to my early beginnings in magazine photography. That was a different time with retouching, so I became very comfortable doing everything all at once. To me, that's part of the fun of photography — seeing if you can pull something off.
Tell me more about shooting with Katie.
We made her run up and down that court, screaming at the top of her lungs, until we found that one moment we used. I think it was just pure exhaustion, and all of a sudden, she was cursing like a sailor.
But she was awesome. She's somebody you fall in love with through her onscreen persona, and then in real life, she's even better. I would say Katie was probably my favorite subject because she just went for it — she completely committed.
At the very end, she said, "Hey, can I just try a couple of killer shots where I'm in full action?" I thought, "Wow, she's pretty serious about pickleball." The next thing I knew, a plastic yellow pickleball almost hit me in the forehead. I said, "Okay, I think we got it, Katie. You can stop with the espresso."
What do you hope people take away from this shoot?
It was all about the color, the sunshine, and the feeling of letting go of your everyday world and having fun — simply going out and playing.
Play is such a forgotten art in our busy world, what with technology, constant communication, talking to people in nine different ways. Being able to turn everything off and reset is such an important part of being human. Our mission was to connect people with the joy of time off, of turning off, and tuning in.
When I'm ready to get out of work mode, I'll go fly fishing in Idaho or to Montauk during striped bass season. Or I'll go snowboarding, or I'll pick up my guitar and work on a song.
What else have you been working on lately?
We just finished another cover story for New York about the New York Knicks' victory with Jalen Brunson. That was a real pinch-me moment.
We got inside that story a little early, and the magazine was able to get Jalen for about 10 minutes. I got the call the night before, and said, "Absolutely." We got everything set up for him, even though it was right before the big NYC parade. It was awesome.
When you're on a shoot, do you choose the music, or do you let the subjects choose their own?
Usually, through our research, I already know what their preferences are. For example, Jalen likes Justin Bieber — who knew? So when he walked in, guess what was playing on our little stereo?
Read more from the Hamptons 2026 issue of New York Magazine here:
