It was in 1997, for the cover of her album Ray of Light. ‘At 2pm she said, “OK, I’m tired. We’re done.” And I said, “But I don’t have the pictures yet.” She said, “You’re working for me and I say we’re done.” I said, “No, we carry on.” The picture she used on the cover came after that. She didn’t intimidate me, you see. I thought, I have to push my luck here, so I started keeking her like dis, with my foot.’ He gives me a demonstration, under the table. ‘She was, like, “Hey, what are you doing?” And I was, like, move here, move here,” and suddenly this created an eentimacy. When these people come across someone who treats them as an equal, it puts them at their ease.’ …
…What about when celebrities are notoriously controlling of their image – celebrities such as Madonna? ‘I was really lucky with Madonna because she was the first celebrity to come to me that wasn’t just a model. It was before Diana. With her I knew I had discovered my style because I like to believe what I am photographing. A certain reality. You know with digital you can do anything. I could be photographed sitting here with you and then in the lab you could be replaced with a pink elephant. When I started I wouldn’t do airbrushing but then I came to see it was OK for wrinkles but not everywhere, you know, leave the natural texture of the skin. When Madonna first came to meet me in a hotel I said, “My God, I have never seen you like this without make up!” Before, you know, I had only ever seen her being the tough girl, or Marilyn, or the rock chick. Instead she came in looking very natural, no make up, flat shoes and ponytail. So I said: “Can I photograph you like this? See who the Madonna without foundation is?” She agreed, but when I showed her the photographs before retouching she was, like, “Oh my God, people don’t want to see me like this.” I showed them to her again after I had done a little retouching and she was happy. She understood what I was trying to do without the make up.
‘That was a milestone for me. It was for a Versace couture collection, when Gianni was still alive, and when it came out it was billed as “Versace presents Madonna by Testino.” And I was a no one. Who is this Testino? Until then the only photographers known only by their surnames were Newton, Avedon and Bailey. It did change the way people saw me. I became a brand.’ (A powerful one, when Testino started shooting for Gucci in 1995, sales increased by £266 million in a year.)
Madonna was so impressed with the natural look Testino had captured, she booked him again and again. ‘When Madonna got pregnant I was with her taking pictures of her tummy moving, while hundreds of photographers were outside, desperate for her.’
source : telegraph.co.uk
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Wow!, great story!, thanks to Mario Testino, for capture the essential Madonna, he´s a great photographer!…sorry for my english!. I LOVE MADONNA!
I love Madonna!
what a great inside story. good scoop here.
I also love her first album cover. I bought the limited edition lithograph of the first album cover. I was surprised that the lithograph had sepial tones instead of the orignal black and white cover.
Madonna was her most beautiful on the Ray of Light cover. She’s never looked the same since.
I love the 1st album cover but the remixed&revised version. The black n white image. She looks fantastic there.
aww……. I love this!