The iconic Ninja Turtles poster was shot by a Rolling Stone photographer

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 movie
(Image credit: Warner Bros Discovery • Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment)

If you were alive in 1990, you will have been unable to escape the tentacles of Turtlemania – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon that saw its peak between 1989 and 1991.

Fittingly, the heroes in a half shells' first movie (called, naturally, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was released in movie theaters in 1990 – and was a box office juggernaut. Racking up $200 million, which is $453,207,345 in today's money, promotion for the film was absolutely everywhere – primarily in the form of its iconic movie poster.

Like Batmania the year before, where the Batman insignia for Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie was nothing short of ubiquitous, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles poster was seen everywhere from bus stations to newspapers to cereal boxes to bubblegum cards. 

It became one of the most iconic posters in pop culture – and now, thanks to a YouTuber and film photography historian, we now know who captured the iconic photograph. Well, photographs

Calgary, Canada-based photographer Azriel Knight runs a popular YouTube channel where he examines the history and pop culture crossover of photography and especially film cameras. 

Among his many endeavors is collecting and cataloguing vintage photography publications – and it was in the September 1990 issue of Studio Photography magazine that he discovered an interview with the photographer: Chip Simons. 

At the time, Simons was already a renowned photographer shooting for the likes of Rolling Stone, Fortune, Forbes and Esquire, and his later work would include clients like Nickelodeon, MTV and Cyndi Lauper. 

As if often the case, it was his connections established through existing relationships with clients – in this case, Esquire – that led to him being referred to New Line Cinema for the job of photographing the Turtles poster. 

Knight's video (above) gives a fascinating insight into the life of a high-profile freelance photographer in the late Eighties / early Nineties, what camera and film Simons shot the poster on, the locations of the buildings in the background, and how much he did (or rather, didn't) make from the gig. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is currently streaming on Netflix, HBO Max and Peacock in the US. You can find out more about Simons and his work on his official website

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James Artaius
Editor

The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera MagazinePhotoPlus: The Canon MagazineN-Photo: The Nikon MagazineDigital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.