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Wintour, Testino, & Bundchen via Getty
The Gaurdian interviewed Vogue's golden boy behind the lens Mario Testino in light of his restrospective (plan your Boston Museum of Fine Arts road-trip now, y'all). It's no wonder that one of the most prolific fashion photographers has a story bank that includes the industry's most notable notables. Find out which super duper model needed his stamp of approval several times over and the dangers of dressing for yourself in a culture of fitting in.
On special projects for Anna Wintour: "'Every year I go to photograph [Wintour] for the Met Ball—her, her kids.' He tells a story of being summoned to shoot a passport photo of Wintour and her first child, which seems a tad unnecessary, yet also perfect."
On how "nobody" liked Gisele Bundchen: "Nobody liked her, nobody wanted her. I had to fight to get her into my stories because nobody thought she was right—too this, too that, the nose, the breasts, the waist. But I believe in being obsessed, in getting obsessed."
On photographers who keep on keeping on: "I spend, maximum, four or five days in a place at a time, except for my holidays. You know that most photographers die on a shoot? Helmut Newton died on assignment. [Irving] Penn too. [Richard] Avedon was still working when he died. We don't retire. We just carry on."
On growing up in Peru: "They screamed at me in the street: 'Faggot.' All my allowance went on taxi fares. I couldn't take public transport the way I dressed. Imagine David Bowie walking in Rome. Well, I wasn't David Bowie, but the way I looked to them was quite flamboyant."
On his special relationship with Kate Moss: "I don't know what it is we have, because I'm so much older than her, and she's rock'n'roll, but if we're in the same room we'll be sitting next to each other within five minutes."
On food metaphors: "I get laughed at by my English friends because they sometimes say I know more about the subtleties of England than they do, and I celebrate it a lot. As much as I am into the new and the cutting edge and the underground, I'm also very much into tradition. Just because you like Italian food it doesn't mean you abandon Chinese food, French food or Japanese food. I like everything."
· Mario Testino Interview: the Man Who Makes Models Super [Guardian UK]
· Mario Testino Shot Anna Wintour's Passport Photo and 5 Other Things We Learned From the Famed Photog [Racked]