Blog
Category: Editorial
A Date with The Hexecutioner
He is known to the public as ‘the Hexecutioner’. He has a new tattoo engraved on his small body after every win (there isn’t much space left – to date he has lost only 1 of his 27 professional fights). He keeps pet pythons, iguanas and large spiders. He wears children’s shoes. South Africa’s Hekkie Budler is the world champion minimumweight boxer. Last month, he came to Monaco to defend his titles. Sam, New York Times European Sports Writer, came down to Nice and we spent the day with Hekkie and his entourage a few days before the fight, to make a portrait of the ‘toughest small guy in the world’.
Monaco: a King among Estate Agents
Comedian Stephen Fry once quipped “Estate agents: you can’t live with them, you can’t live with them”. Let’s face it, property sellers don’t exactly have the best reputation. I was sent to Monaco, where real estate is somewhat larger than life, on an editorial assignment to photograph one of the Principality’s finest estate agents.
Baby Swap in Cannes
The difference was subtle, but baby Manon’s skin colour was definitely a shade darker than her parents’. This, combined with Manon’s slightly-too-frizzy hair, didn’t overly concern her mum, Sophie…but it did bother Sophie’s boyfriend. Eventually, his doubts over Sophie’s fidelity, and the paternity of their daughter, led to the couple’s separation and a DNA test. On the day of the result, a doctor sat Sophie down. “Well, I have some news for you. Your ex-boyfriend is indeed not your child’s father…” – shocked pause – “…and there is more. You are not her mother either”.
Training on Top of the World
In Monaco one week and St. Moritz the next… this could be a jet setter’s timetable. The ski resort town of St. Moritz in Switzerland is known as a favourite winter playground for the rich and famous; Monaco needs no explanation. However, although the subjects of this portrait assignment are well-known in their sphere, they seem to entirely lack the jet set mindset. Champion triathletes Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee are true-blue Yorkshiremen, known for a particular brand of down-to-earth Britishness and understatement.
On the Trail of Wolves
Wolves were once hunted to extinction in France. However, over the last ten years, a French wolf population has been firmly re-established, initially in Le Parc du Mercantour – the national park that straddles the mountainous border between France and Italy. Today, firmly protected in law, wolves are threatening the existence of another rare breed in France: traditional sheep herders. 20,000 sheep have been killed by wolves in France in the last 5 years.
Monte Carlo or Bust
I photographed 3 museums, 3 restaurants, the royal palace and a cactus wonderland. I traipsed down countless steps into the bowels of the earth to admire stalactites. I hiked in the summer heat along a coastal footpath. I got tangled in a throng of cameras at the cathedral, photographing tourists who were photographing wedding guests who were photographing the just-married couple who were being photographed by their photographer. All this and more for the New York Times 36 Hours in Monaco travel guide….
Monaco: License to Shoot
Photographers often say that France, with its thorny privacy laws, is the trickiest place in the world for street photography. I suspect people who say that have never tried it in Monaco. While it has its showy side, Monaco is well-known as a safe haven for some of the world’s higher earners, and this is a reputation that the principality works hard to protect. Paparazzi photographers are about as unwelcome as a rabid stray dog at Crufts and, unfortunately, any roving photographer risks being tarred with the same brush. Photographers wanting to shoot anywhere in the principality, for whatever purpose, need a License to Shoot.
All the Fun of the (Trade) Fair
As I write, the Cannes Film Festival is under way. But this is not the only event that brings people flocking to Cannes every year. Le Palais des Festivals hosts a number of international trade fairs. A dazzling array of acronyms beginning with ‘M’ give titles to these business events. MIDEM is for the music industry, MIPCOM , MIPDOC & MIPTV the TV business and MAPIC for retail property, among others. MIPIM is the one of the biggest events, and it is devoted to large-scale real estate.
Constellation Cookfest in Monaco
Alain Ducasse is known as the Godfather of French cuisine. A fortnight ago, he did his reputation proud. Michelin-starred chefs flew to the South of France from all over the world to help Ducasse celebrate his 25th anniversary at Monaco’s Louis XV restaurant. They ate, drank, cooked and made merry, all 240 of them. And a certain photographer managed to squeeze in one or two tastings between frames…
Corsetmaker in Paris
François Tamarin is a one-off. A corsetier (corsetmaker), he has a boutique in Paris, where he designs and tailor-makes corsets. Customers come from far and wide to be squeezed into his creations. Indeed he is not just any old corsetmaker. François has just been awarded one of France’s greatest honours, and I’d been commissioned to take his portrait. The New York Times had sent me to Paris to photograph a series of artisans who had just been named Meilleur Ouvrier de France [Best Craftsmen of France].