We’ve been getting unconfirmed reports that LOTR still photographer Pierre Vinet has passed away. His official Facebook page is filled with condolences from friends and fans alike, including Royd Tolkien.
His last film was 2007’s ‘The Water Horse’ however Pierre has been active as a still photographer for motion pictures since the early 90’s. He worked on several Peter Jackson films including King Kong, The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures and Braindead. His other films include the Narnia films, The Whole Nine Yards, and The Virgin Suicides.
Pierre’s iconic photos of the LOTR character were some of the first images released from the production and are still seen on thousands of products worldwide. See his LOTR photos here…
UPDATE: We can now confirm that Pierre has passed away recently. Condolences to his wife Marjory, friends and family from TheOneRing.net. Please leave notes on his Facebook page, his wife plans to keep it going in his memory.
When director Peter Jackson asked Howard Shore to compose the score for “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, Shore studied J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world before beginning four years of writing music. At a Master’s Tea Tuesday afternoon, Shore shared insights about composing, orchestrating, conducting and producing more than ten hours of music to accompany “The Lord of the Rings” films in front of more than 100 students in the Branford College common room. The Academy Award-winning composer, who also wrote the scores for “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Doubt,” among others, also told stories about working on other genres of music before his venture into cinema. Shore began the talk by describing his first encounters with music. From the beginning, his clarinet teacher felt it was important that he learn music composition techniques such as harmony and counterpoint, he said. By the time Shore was 11 years old, he was already writing small pieces. 
Elven x sends this in: This week’s guest on Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib is Michael Regina from TORN (our own Xoanon) And with lots to talk about and a full summary of what’s been happening in the realms of Middle-Earth Please feel free to comment on the show and the discussion! Fictional Frontiers is aired Sundays at 11am Philadelphia time. You can listen online at 