Mario Testino

Hello Mario. You have seen his pictures. You've ooh-ed, you've aww-ed. Now meet the man.
Here he is posing with one of the pictures that shot him to the top in the world of photography.



Now he's sought after for everything from Burberry ads to bottled water ads (smart water- Jennifer Aniston) to Album covers for people like, oh, um, i don't know- Madonna! yeah.. anyway, I've looked at some 20 pages of a google-image-search of him and here are some of my favorites. Note that these are my favorites and I tend to like a certain style so if he seems limited it's only because of the ones i've selected, cause trust me- he's anything but.

















Of course he frames each shot perfectly; of course his technical abilities are flawless; of course the lighting touches his subjects in a way that you would swear he shoots it from his fingertips. But how do you teach someone to capture that something in someone's face? It's like his camera is a laser of truth. You feel like you can see directly into the soul of the person being photographed. And if you don't feel that way, then it's because he purposefully masked the peep-hole with mystery that leaves you feeling as if your life depends on knowing their secret.

I've been ripping ads out of Vogue magazine since I was 12. Its because of people like him and because a bottled water ad can be an incredible artistic work.