Dune: Part Two has been one of the biggest cinema blockbusters of 2024. Praised for its outstanding action sequences and set design, it turned Budapest, Hungary, into a far-off alien planet. It drew to a close the new version of the movie franchise and featured stunning visual storytelling, thanks to world-renowned and Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser.
His visual wizardry isn't limited to using cinema cameras, though; Fraser is also a prolific stills photographer, and made the most of his time with the star-studded cast to capture an intimate look behind the scenes of Denis Villeneuve's Dune films.
From beautiful shooting locations and otherworldly costumes to capturing cinematic characters and candid actors in equal measure, it culminates in a gallery of hundreds of images displayed for us all to enjoy in a new photography book – Dune: Exposures.
The movies' visuals are so strong that there have already been three books on Dune's art and photography. However, these differ as they look at the images captured by unit stills photographer Chiabella James and capture the world of Dune from the outside.
Fraser's images are very much a documentation of the process of making the film from within – a perfect companion to the existing books, highlighting the humanity and emotions of the cast and crew's experiences while bringing to life Villeneuve and Frank Herbert's Dune.
Greig Fraser is a confessed geek about light and camera optics, and recently explained how he used infrared cinema cameras to capture one of the movie's most memorable scenes. This obsession has made him one of Hollywood's most in-demand cinematographers, but it also translates to capturing technically impressive still photographs.
But it isn't just the technical ability that shines in Dune: Exposures, as the book is packed full of striking emotion, giving the reader a sense of what it was like to be on set. This sense of emotion is helped by the poetic text woven throughout the book, written by actor Josh Brolin.
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Brolin and Fraser developed a unique bond during production, forming a connection that led to this remarkable collaboration. Brolin's poignant writing elevates the book, providing heartfelt commentary and context to the vivid images, pulled from his first-hand experiences on set.
Yet it delves deeper than that and asks more philosophical questions that arose during his time filming Dune. Brolin writes of youth, ambitions and self-discovery in a vulnerable tone that we don't often see much any more, yet we are in desperate need of.
Candid moments on set were captured with grace, enabling the viewer to imagine themselves among the star-studded cast of actors – the likes of Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and, of course, Brolin himself.
This book is already a classic and will continue to be in years to come. It provides never-before-seen insight into many of the rising movie stars of today, in a more sophisticated and thoughtful medium than the social media feed we are accustomed to.
"These are ours, Greig Fraser's, and mine. His photographs. My words," writes Brolin. "They were prompted by a love of people and process, and they are the direct result of Tonya LaPoint [producer on Dune: Part 1 and 2] one day presenting and pushing the idea that Greig and I should come together and create a book. As messy, artistic, and raw as the photos are are as messy, fun, sensorial as I hope the words that accompany them are."
Dune: Exposures is published by Insight Editions and available now for $60 / £50 / AU$107.
This book is for fans of cinema, as it is for fans of photography, as it is for fans of great writing. It has something for everyone and is an ideal coffee table book to be picked up and read again and again, delving in at a point speaks to you at the time.
Check out our story on the new photography book released by Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, Dear God, the Parthenon is Broken.
You might also be interested in our guides to the best coffee table books on photography and the best books on portrait photography.
