Taking a double portrait is a rather different affair to taking a single portrait for an editorial photographer. This magazine assignment; a double portrait of a famous Formula One driver and ice hockey player in Monaco who didn’t know each other, got off to a shaky start. Blue sky was ordered but not provided, and an incident between photographer and one of the subjects made bystanding PR people and writers hold their breath. However, while unusual South of France summer weather had disrupted the original portrait plan, a red couch and a helmet saved the day. Continue reading…
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Rich List Portrait
You’d think that most people would be happy for an internationally-respected newspaper like the Sunday Times Magazine to write a feature about their life’s successes, and for a professional photographer to be assigned to take their portrait to boot. However, many billionaires on the Sunday Times Magazine’s Rich List are somewhat above the need for PR or press coverage. The Monaco portrait that I took of easyJet founder Stelios, 48th on the Rich List, involved persuasion and some hard negotiation, both before and during the photo shoot. Continue reading…
Monaco: ‘world’s biggest bribe scandal’
I regularly carry out editorial portrait assignments, in the South of France and beyond, and have the privilege of photographing all sorts of people. Although, each one has a reason to be of interest to the international press, I tend to think it is important, as photographer, to avoid forming too many preconceptions about portrait subjects before meeting them. A commission for the New York Times newspaper in Monaco challenged my resolve. Press rumours had it that this portrait subject in Monte Carlo was a very bad man indeed. Continue reading…
cover girl power
For its tiny size, Monaco is home to a disproportionate number of professional athletes. As a photographer based nearby in the South of France, I am often commissioned to make portraits of sportspeople for press clients. But I had never, until recently, photographed a female cyclist. Guardian Weekend magazine sent me to Monaco on assignment to make a cover portrait of road racing champion Lizzie Deignan. It was International Women’s Day. Continue reading…
How to Sell a Superyacht
How would you like your new boat customised? A glass motorcyle garage on deck? Perhaps a leather-bound staircase leading to the cabins down a wall of backlit onyx? Contrary to what some might expect today, the designer superyacht market is booming and the French Riviera is where its at. Two magazine clients commissioned me this summer to photograph international superyacht trade fairs held annually in the South of France. Photographers were welcomed with open arms at the Cannes event, but at the Monaco Yacht Show, an aversion to press photographers made my assignment challenging. Continue reading…
keeping the ‘real’ in real estate photography
You’d be forgiven for thinking that a property on the market for €3.35 million in Monaco would be a pretty plush pad; a joy to work with, for a photographer. Monaco’s status as a fiscal paradise and its resultant real estate prices means you’d be wrong. The ‘dream home’ I was sent to photograph recently, right on the border between Monaco and much-cheaper-France, was underwhelming, to say the least. Making it look spacious and desirable, without resorting to photographers’ post production tricks, presented a real challenge. Continue reading…
