Blog
Monaco: Lunch in the Fast Lane
Back in the day, they were Finland’s premier power couple. He was a Formula One champion; she was a television presenter. Today they may be divorced, the “Flying Finn” Mikka Häkkinen is no longer a racing car driver and Erja’s TV days are over, but the press has not forgotten them. Very glossy ‘Gloria’, Finland’s number one fashion magazine, recently sent me as photographer to Monaco to shoot a lifestyle feature about Erja. It was a rather glamorous day-in-the-life piece, that required a lot of people, tasty (and not so tasty) morsels and champagne in its making…
Shop ’til You Drop in Monaco
A glass of champagne or two while you browse? A changing room big enough for you and ten friends to chill out in? A beautiful, trilingual personal shopper, effortlessly juggling your favourite designers’ shoes, outfits and sunglasses? Forget shopping malls, queues and fights during the sales: Monaco knows how to shop.
Portraits of Sceptics
Unlike their brethren in the US, here in Europe they live in the shadows. European law protects the identity of their sources of funding and their networks are closed. Their meetings are held behind unmarked doors and they have an aversion to the press. Linked to the rising wave of right-wing populism in Europe, their numbers are growing – and so too is their quiet influence in the corridors and sessions at the European Parliament. These scientists, retirees, engineers and farmers are by a great majority male. Meet the climate change sceptics.
Love Island, Cannes
“Fantastic!!! Fabulous!!!” cried my client, as she caught sight of me. Its not often that I am greeted with quite as much gusto, but I’d just arrived at the ITV Studios stand in Cannes, where bubbly smiles, enthusiasm and exclamation marks abound. ITV, the UK’s biggest and most popular commercial television channel, has a big presence at MIPCOM (the entertainment version of a series of annual Cannes-hosted global trade fairs), and I provide their corporate event photography. Today, my first stop was a rendez-vous on Love Island.
Double Sport Star Portrait
Everyone held their breath – PR, assistants, journalists. In an uncharacteristic outburst, I had just barked an order at the kind of man who is not used to being told what to do (let alone by a photographer he has only just met). However, while I was up a ladder adjusting a light for this double portrait of a famous racing driver and ice hockey player, Nico Rosberg (2016 Formula One world champion) had quietly got up out of his position and picked up my camera. Suddenly, I had turned around to see him pressing buttons as he tried to take a peek at the first photo.
French Wine under Threat
Wine and France. The two just go together. Le vin is of ultimate importance to the French economy, its way of life, history, gastronomy and, quite simply, to a sense of Frenchness. Yet the very nature of many established wines is under threat today. Global warming, and the slow increase in the temperature of the planet, is starting to make its presence felt in France’s vineyards. The impact on winemakers could shake the French wine industry to its core. This summer, Stern magazine, sent me as photographer, and journalist Marc, to the Languedoc and Rhône, two of France’s biggest – & hottest – wine-growing regions, to investigate.
Swiss Sister in Cannes
Undeniably linked to the people and events that sparked the movement in the first place, the Cannes Film Festival found itself, earlier this year, under the spotlight of the globe-sweeping #metoo phenomenon. Cate Blanchett organised a women-only red carpet march to protest gender inequality among the film-makers historically honoured at Cannes (only 82 of the 1,727 films ever selected for the ultimate Palme d’Or prize have been directed by women). As a female photographer, it was a privilege to be assigned to take a portrait of Swiss female director Ursula Meier.
Rich List Portrait
Every year, the Sunday Times Magazine devotes an entire edition to the Rich List, the definitive directory of the richest people in the world. This year was the guide’s 30th anniversary and the magazine’s picture editor had a billionaire’s portrait to assign to me in Monaco for a Rich List Interview special. I was to photograph Number 48, the founder of easyJet.
Cannes: ‘Impossible’ Photographer Brief
A few weeks before hoards of movie buffs, journalists and photographers arrive in the South of France for its annual film festival, Cannes plays host to another huge crowd at the world’s leading property trade fair, MIPIM. Monocle magazine commissions me regularly as photographer to make a reportage of this vast urban development event, but this year, the editorial direction had changed…
Marseille’s Melting Pot Cuisine
Its probably best not to read this post if you’re hungry. I headed to Marseille on a recent magazine cover assignment, to investigate the city’s vibrant cuisine and the influence that migrants have had on its evolution over the years. As both food and portrait photographer, I had the privilege of photographing – and tasting – some extraordinary dishes that combine South of France flavours with African and Asian influences, and making portraits of those who created them.