I really do HATE them.
Another massive book (30.9 x 42.5 cm and a mere 2.1 kilos!), from famed Holloywood Photographer Mario Testino, and foreworded by Nicole Kidman, which brings you litterally in the life of celebrities. The list of those portrayed here would be long but let’s only mention, Demi Moore, Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt, George Clooney.
A comment on the book’s Amazon.com page states “looks more like a last minute pull out from all of his vanity fair and vogue spread from previous few years”. This is not completely untrue, but the author probably haven’t read the interview at the beginning of the book. This book is telling you how a photographer gets confidence from world stars, at a point where intimacy becomes key : the photographer knows he will make them look good. And vice-versa. Further, this pictures featured here are more like a collection of the photographer’s favorites. The title is so because the book is supposed to ‘let you in’ where you cannot get (celebrities’ parties and high profile social gatherings). This is untrue as well.
So try it at home : pick-up someone ready to go intimate with you hidden behind a camera… snap, snap, snap… review…. and there you got it: simple pictures are all but simple to take. Get the book, there is a lot more to learn in there than you – and many others – first thought.
What more you need to know:
- Mario Testino was (and still is regularly) also commissioned by royal families in Europe (UK, Denmark, Jordan, etc.)
- Mario Testino is not Italian. He was born in Peru on the 30th October 1954
- “Let Me In!” is his 7th book. The most famous remains “Portraits” (with this picture one of my all-time favorite)
- Selling 1 print of Diana’s portrait allowed the construction of a children clinic in Peru
Editor’s page for the book (and option to purchase the limited edition) : http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/01062/facts.mario_testino_let_me_in.htm
Posted in 2009, Modern Art, Photography Tagged: book, celebrity, fashio, mario, Photography, taschen, testinoFlickr is quite an amazing tool. If you see it that way. It is also quite an impressing website. If you consider the size of its databases and the smooth navigation they manage to offer. But beyond these considerations, seen by anyone at the first sight, what does Flickr actually do for you and its community?
