Wes Anderson's Visual Playbook for Photographers

In the realm of contemporary cinema, few directors have developed a visual language as instantly recognizable as Wes Anderson. His meticulous compositions, distinctive color palettes, and narrative depth have captivated audiences and sparked countless imitations.

But what lies beneath the surface of the “Accidentally Wes Anderson” aesthetic that dominates social media? How can photographers authentically incorporate elements of his visual storytelling into their own work?

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Liz Seabrook, the photographer behind the new book “Shoot Like Wes,” created in collaboration with her partner and writer Adam Woodward. Their book explores the cinematographic techniques that define Anderson’s unique style and translates them into practical approaches for photographers. 

Rather than simply replicating Anderson’s aesthetic, their book aims to help photographers understand and apply the thoughtful storytelling techniques that make his work so compelling.

Beyond the Pink Buildings

When asked about the most common mistake photographers make when attempting to shoot in Wes Anderson’s style, Seabrook doesn’t hesitate: “Being too basic. Too reductive. I mean, like this is it. This is all I need to do. If it’s pink, if it’s symmetrical, finished it. Game over. And not thinking about actually all the other details that go into the shots.”

She points out that the popular “Accidentally Wes Anderson” aesthetic focuses almost exclusively on architecture, while Anderson himself is primarily interested in humans and their stories. 

“Stop it with all your pastel colored buildings and start thinking about people. And how humanity is represented,” she emphasizes.

The book approaches Anderson’s filmography systematically, assigning a specific photographic technique to each film:

• Asteroid City: How to shoot buildings and deep focus
• The Royal Tenenbaums: God’s view perspective
• Rushmore: Marrying up color accents
• The French Dispatch: Still life photography
• Fantastic Mr. Fox: Hero perspective
• Isle of Dogs: Close-up object shots

The Rule of Thirds (Even When It Doesn’t Seem Like It)

Despite Anderson’s reputation for centered, symmetrical compositions, Seabrook reveals that the traditional rule of thirds remains fundamental to his work—just not in the way most photographers might expect.

“You might have something that’s placed bang in the center, but the top and bottom are still sitting on those third lines,” she explains. “You’ve got someone placed way out to the side of a shot, but they’re still on the third line. It’s just that there’s so much negative space on the opposite side that it feels different and other. But it’s still there.”

This observation highlights how Anderson builds upon traditional compositional principles rather than abandoning them entirely, creating a visual language that feels both familiar and distinctive.

Human Storytelling Through Objects and Details

What truly distinguishes Anderson’s approach is the way he tells stories through meticulous attention to detail. For the chapter on The French Dispatch, Seabrook created a still life representing a deceased blues musician:

“We had his record in the middle and then put down a few bits and pieces: a harmonica, a folded over pocket square, a picture of a woman, a black and white postcard with a picture of a woman and her dog, a stack of rocks, a book about blues music. We started trying to play with our photos to imagine what story we’re telling because that’s the thing with his films—you’ve got all of these tiny little details which tell you so much about all of the characters.”

This approach to storytelling through objects can be applied across photographic genres. Even for still life or product photography, Seabrook encourages photographers to consider: “What story are your objects telling? Are your glasses arranged to suggest a wild party or a quiet evening of reading? The center of all photography should always be what story you’re telling.”

The Value of Constraints and Planning

The book project itself operated under significant constraints—Seabrook initially wanted to shoot on 35mm Kodak film to match Anderson’s cinematic approach, but the publisher insisted on a more accessible approach. “The initial proposal was I wanted to shoot on 35mm Kodak analog film, like just on a simple SLR. But the publisher said no, because it needed to be more simple. They were like, ideally, we’d have you shoot this on a camera phone.”

They compromised on a Fuji X100F, a consumer camera with a fixed lens that would make the techniques more approachable for beginners. 

This constraint forced creativity, which Seabrook embraces: “Sometimes the constraints of what you have make your images stronger. I think because you have to make it work.”

Anderson’s approach also demands methodical planning and precision. “There is like quite a lot of eyeballing. So there was some stuff that I fixed in post. A little bit of reframing, a little bit of skew. But in terms of real-world application, it’s about finding the center of buildings, especially here in the UK where all the interesting buildings are generally pretty old, and none of them have straight windows or walls or anything.”

Embracing Comfort in a Chaotic World

When asked what effect Anderson’s centered framing creates for viewers, Seabrook suggests it provides a sense of stability and comfort: “I think there’s something that feels very safe and very stable about his films. You know that at no point is there going to be a jump scare.”

She compares it to “going through someone’s house who keeps all of their books in color coordination or keeps all their spices in alphabetical order. There’s a sense of very strong order to it, which stuff comes in and disrupts, but you know it’s going to return to this kind of cocoon of comfort.”

In our increasingly chaotic world, this meticulous attention to detail offers reassurance. “As our own world continues to fall into more and more disarray, it’s that sort of idea that someone’s meticulously placing things. It makes you feel a bit like, it’s okay. Someone’s still taking time to do things properly.”

The Golden Hour (and After)

Seabrook addresses practical concerns for photographers wanting to capture Anderson’s golden-hour aesthetic. “The first chapter, on Bottle Rocket, is about shooting at golden hour. And we shot across the sun going down and tried to find the kind of right moment in that for what it felt like.”

Interestingly, she found that Anderson’s aesthetic wasn’t about capturing the most dramatic moment of golden hour: “We shot when the sun was really low and it was just hitting our subjects and it just didn’t work. It just felt completely wrong. It felt like a Sean Baker film or something instead. So we had to wait until the sun had dipped. So you still had the color, you still had the warmth… It still had the warmth of the sun that had only just dipped below the buildings and you had the warm red of the sky. So you had golden hour, but it wasn’t like golden hour. It was just softer.”

Why Shoot Like Wes?

Perhaps the most important question is why photographers should consider Anderson’s techniques at all. Seabrook’s answer is simple but profound: “To tell stories more efficiently, or more interestingly at least. It’s the romance and the sensibility. When you’re taking someone’s portrait, what can you add into an image? What else can you tell from your image-making?”

She believes Anderson’s approach demands that we look closer, notice details, and celebrate what makes humans human. “What differentiates us as humans creating images from what AI is making? It’s the weird shit that you don’t expect to be there.”

In a world increasingly mediated through images, Anderson’s detailed approach to visual storytelling provides a blueprint for creating photographs with greater depth and resonance. 

As Seabrook puts it, “His films are incredibly human. All of the intricacies, all of the depth, all of the nuance. He loves that. He kind of relishes it and revels in it. And I think that’s why we should be interested in his films and why we should be thinking about him when we’re making images.”

Looking Beyond Technical Precision

Ultimately, Seabrook emphasizes that photography should be about connection rather than technical perfection. She observes that many photographers can become overly focused on technical aspects at the expense of the human element.

She reminds us that “remembering who’s in front of your camera, that they’ve got a story, that they are probably more interesting than you are, and knowing how to bring those things out—I think that’s the groundwork of taking good pictures of people.”

The Takeaway

If photographers remember just one lesson from “Shoot Like Wes,” Seabrook hopes it’s this: tell a story. 

Whether through carefully arranged objects, thoughtful framing, coordinated color accents, or attentive portraiture, Anderson’s approach encourages photographers to communicate more through their images.

By looking beyond the surface-level aesthetic of symmetrical compositions and pastel colors, photographers can embrace the deeper principles that make Anderson’s visual language so powerful: meticulous attention to detail, thoughtful storytelling, and a profound interest in human experience.

“Shoot Like Wes” offers photographers tools not just to imitate Anderson’s style, but to develop their own visual voice with the same thoughtfulness and narrative depth that characterizes his films—creating images that tell stories long after the shutter clicks.

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“Shoot Like Wes” is being released in June 2025, offering photographers practical guidance on applying Wes Anderson’s cinematic techniques to their own photography.