From Bowie to Beckham. The queen of pop and soul, Beyonce, to the queen of the catwalk Anna Wintour. From royals to athletes, artists to nudists, Mario Testino has captured them all.
As a result of his 40 years of practising photography, he is globally considered one of the most highly regarded and influential fashion and portrait photographers of our time. His work ranges from advertising campaigns to publication editorials, personal portraits to world class showcases. An expert in colour, composition, light, beauty, detail; the list is endless. Something I particularly like about Testino's work is the range of photographic styles he can adapt to; anything from raw, simplistic, organic, even candid natural beauty to the biggest of stages for an extravagantly decorated campaign shoot. Testino seems to have the ability to master every style.
In this post I'd like to share some of my personal favourites of his work from over the years. Starting with a series of supremely elegant black and white portraits that make up the 'Towel Series'.
I particularly love this ever-growing series because of it's sense of honesty, and purity within a fashion shoot. So often they are dressed up and down to convey a certain narrative to the viewer, but with this collection the freedom of such mundane everyday objects being personalised to such huge celebrities, almost normalises them and their status to being just another member of the population. Beautiful, with almost a sense of innocence. Testino describes the shoot as:
However with photos as naturally beautiful as these, it begs the question why Testino was done for sexual misconduct allegations. Anna Wintour spoke out about the subject:
"Today, allegations have been made against Bruce Weber and Mario Testino, stories that have been hard to hear and heartbreaking to confront. Both are personal friends of mine who have made extraordinary contributions to Vogue and many other titles at Condé Nast over the years, and both have issued objections or denials to what has emerged. I believe strongly in the value of remorse and forgiveness, but I take the allegations very seriously, and we at Condé Nast have decided to put our working relationship with both photographers on hold for the foreseeable future."
Famous for his long standing relationship with Conde Nast publications (Vogue in particular); the news came as a shock to many including esteemed editor herself, having been photographed by Testino on many occasions throughout her life.
Having developed such an adaptable style, what Mario never fails to capture is a sense of character. Whether it's for a campaign or cover shoot Testino's attention to detail and pin point sharpness is definitely something I aspire to in my own photography.
I guess something we may never know is if Mario Testino OBE is really a sinner or a photographic saint.
St.
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