Biography
Mario Testino is known in the trendy world as a talented photographer, who managed to work with many stars and popular people for his career. In the portfolio of men there are pictures of Lady Gaga, Madonna, Angelina Jolie and even Princesses Diana. And on this list of his work does not end. Testino became the founder of the museum in Lima, where the photographs of international authors are on the court.Childhood and youth
The British photographer was born in the fall of 1954 in the Peruvian city of Lima. Among his relatives were Irish, Italians and Spaniards. The boy grew in a poor family and dreamed of becoming a priest in childhood, however, he did not fulfill plans. After graduating from school, Mario entered the Catholic University of Peru, and then continued to study at the University of San Diego at the Faculty of International Relations. All these years, Testino understood that he chose the wrong path, and in 1976 he decided to completely change his life. He moved to London, where he began to study the art of photography.
Life in a big city cost Mario expensive to pay training in the studios of Paul Nugen and John Victors, he had to work as a waiter in the snack bars and live on the abandoned floor at the local hospital.
Personal life
Nothing is known about the personal life of Mario, or a man hides these details, or prefers to keep information secret from the press. However, it is worth noting that there is a lot of rumors around his name. In January 2018, Testino with an impeccable reputation of an authoritative photographer was accused of sexual harassment, which caused the effect of a broken bomb. The investigation was published on The New York Times magazine pages. In this story, not one person suffered from the behavior of the photographer was mentioned, there was a dozen cases of harassment relating to exclusively men, ranging from assistants and assistants and ending with photographers. However, all charges of Mario denied, and there were no direct evidence against him.Testino leads a page in "Instagram", where it publishes mainly its own work. In the photo where Mario himself was captured, it can be seen that, despite age, the photographer tries to keep himself in shape (height and weight are unknown).
Career
Gradually, the first customers appeared in the biography of Testino, however, he took the minimum payment for shooting. Then began to create model portfolio that sold 25 pounds. But after acquaintance with Lucin Chambers, who worked in a magazine Vogue, his life changed dramatically. She showed Mario distant world of fashion. Inspiring childhood spent in Peru, over the years, test created its own style, and more people began to turn.
The real success was waiting for testin later. In the early 1990s, he was given the opportunity to spend a photo session with a princess Diana for the cover of Vanity Fair, which was the beginning of his career at the international level. Mario told about this work that he did not want to make fashionable glamorous pictures, instead, he chose to capture the princess in its naturalness. A simple sofa was chosen as a location, where Diana lay without decorations and shoes. When her children saw these photos, they stated that they considered their real mom in the pictures.
Working with Princess Diana subsequently served as the starting point for his friendship with the royal family. In addition, Testino became the photographer of the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge during their engagement at the end of 2010. And after 5 years, he captured the baptism of Princess Charlotte on the film.
The 1990s became turning in the life of Testino, he became famous as a master of fashionable photography, thanks to which many brands have received the second life, who worked at that time not the best times. He collaborated with Tom Ford, Karin Roitfeld and Janni Versace. In the future, he had to work with the famous magazines for which a man was shooting Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Kate Moss and other stars. By the way, a friendly relationship with Moss had a friendly relationship, she used the services of the photographer when he married the musician Jamie Hinsoma.
It is worth noting that testing works show models in real, without masks and laid emotions. Mario himself shared that he liked to photograph people and enter their lives. And in the work it uses different techniques. Film cameras shoots for a personal archive, no less love and digital equipment, work with which allows you to adjust and retouch the pictures, which gives it a larger field to embody the ideas.
Photos of Mario are known to people not only in print in fashion magazines. Many of his work were presented at exhibitions in London, Paris and New York, as well as in the museums of Berlin, Shanghai, Madrid and others. Although the man himself claims that he has nothing to do with history and heritage, a lot of books published in his works.
In the period from 2012 to 2013, Mario conducted an aggressive sex photo session with the participation of Dautzene Cruz and Lima Adriana for V Magazine, for the cover of Paris Vogue, George Michael and Kate Moss, Eve of Mendez - for the Vogue Eyewear advertising campaign. For Vogue Brasil, He worked with Pamela Anderson, then prepared a Christmas campaign for Printemps Holiday, during which he captured Santa Claus Huu Gersigov. And since the autumn of 2013, until the end of March 2014, at the Institute of Spain named after Queen Sofia, his exhibition worked with photographs of the Peruvians shot in national robes.
Earning enough funds, Testyino engaged in charity, money for the implementation of various projects was collected by selling its own albums. In August 2007, a clinic appeared on his initiative to Peru, intended for children suffering from tuberculosis. And soon after that, Mario sent part of the revenue funds for the construction of a playground with a hospital in Moscow for children, cancer. After a couple of years, he created in Lima the organization M.A.T.E., aimed at supporting and developing Peruvian art.
In May 2019, an exhibition dedicated to photographs of Testino, made from 1996 to 2015, opened in the St. Petersburg Museum "Erart". The exposition included more than 50 large-format portrait photos, on which world stars are captured, whose names are familiar with billions of people on the planet.
Mario Testino now
Testino works are now popular among photo lovers. In November 2019, his pictures appeared in the London gallery Hamiltons, the exposition worked until January 18, 2020. Further plans for a career photographer does not reveal, but his fans are confident that other new works will be seen on the pages of magazines and exhibitions.Photo albums
- 1998 - ANY OBJECTIONS?
- 1999 - Front Row / Backstage
- 2001 - Alive Also
- 2002 - Mario Testino: Portraits
- 2003 - Kids.
- 2005 - Visionaire No. 46: Uncensored
- 2007 - Diana, Princess Of Wales
- 2007 - Let ME In
- 2007 - Lima, Peru
- 2009 - Rio de Janeiro
- 2010 - Kate Moss by Mario Testino