Both his male and female subjects looked the way that you might look, not in your wildest dreams, but at the remotest end of possibility… The aura was glamorous but he had a footing in reality. What Mario offered straddled the old and new. All photographers need to establish in the viewer's mind what it is that they bring to the subject, to transform it from a simple depiction to something they have uniquely seen.

Alexandra Shulman, Editor of British Vogue since 1992, described Mario Testino's role in the fashion world at this time:Īlthough he had been working as a photographer for a number of years it was only around this time that the signature Testino style gelled.

In the early 1990s, he emerged as one of the leading fashion and portrait photographers. However, by the late 1970s he had moved to London and it was here that he started to train as a photographer. He has photographed Robbie Williams, Catherine Zeta Jones and Liz Hurley and made numerous studies of certain individuals: Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna.īorn in Lima, Peru, of Irish, Spanish and Italian origins, he originally studied Economics, Law and International Relations. Testino's subjects include contemporary celebrities from the worlds of fashion, film, music and style. At times, the colour is brash and exciting in others it is more subtle and elegant. Where photographic portraiture traditionally chose the subtlety of black and white, Testino has developed techniques in colour photography that emphasise glamour and hedonism. Scale is a vital factor, putting them into quite a different level of importance in terms of serious portraiture than the same image in the format of a magazine or book. The technical quality of these works and, indeed, most of the photographs in the exhibition, is exceptional. They were, in fact, the last official photographs taken of Diana. This informality was achieved partly by the removal of all props and of her shoes and jewellery. Testino presented her as relaxed and confident, more so than any other photographer had managed to achieve. The works are now well-known images, especially the portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales, taken shortly before her death. Eminently suited to the refurbished orphanage, the palatial, neo-classical building by Thomas Hamilton of 1833 (Terry Farrell and Partners 1999), the huge Testino portraits looked superb. Thereafter, it travelled to Milan and Amsterdam, then on to the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh. Last year the National Portrait Gallery in London put together an exhibition of over 100 works by photographer, Mario Testino.

Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, 16 April-15 June 2003.

Princess diana testino