World-Renowned Photographer Tiziano Magni Talks Kate Moss + The Future of Fashion

Photographer Tiziano Magni was given his first camera at age 12. In the five decades that have proceded, the Italian-born photographer has shot some of the most recognizable photos in recent history. His advertising work runs the gamut from Calvin Klein to Missoni, and his magazine covers can be counted by the score. Now the world-renowned photographer talks to LookBooks about working with Kate Moss, the future of fashion, and his excitement about his upcoming collaboration with LookBooks and TalentHouse.

Upon arrival in the pouring rain, I find the coffee shop where I am slated to meet the photographer Tiziano Magni regrettably closed. I hop through the rain to another cafe across the street. While I’ve never met Mr. Magni before this day, I know his work quite well: frequently featured on the cover of everyone’s favorite magazines (Numéro, Italian Vogue) his images of Kate Moss have been referenced for years. Weathered but youthful, a dark-haired, bright-eyed Tiziano Magni arrives, not at all phased by our locational dilemma, nor by the rain which has soaked his overcoat. We begin talking almost immediately about his clear passion in making art. One might expect an ego—one large enough to afford such talent—and instead Magni is cool and calm.

On Kate Moss and Owning the Moment

“What was it like to work with Kate Moss?” I ask. “She’s very talented,” Magni tells me. “All the success that she has had is for one big, fundamental reason:  she knows how to be in front of the camera.  If she wants to deliver, you shoot an amazing picture.  If she doesn’t, you won’t.” Magni pauses. “Success at that level is not luck,” he continues,  “she’s just an extremely talented person in front of the camera. It’s not only beauty; there are many girls who are beautiful.  It’s her knowledge of that beauty and a talent in how to express it. She goes so far with it--and so powerfully--that she deserves all the success that she has.” Magni has been living in New York since the mid ‘80s.  While his accent still carries Italian roots, his articulation is powerful.

In an industry with a plethora of extraordinary photographers, there is a curiosity to ask Magni what is necessary to make a good picture. “Does so much depend on the model?” I ask, wondering how such a prolific photographer with a body of work often described as “poetic” could have accomplished so much. “Any idea, if it is not interpreted in the right way, could be ‘wrong’. The trick in front of the camera is to own the idea. You know?  And that really becomes the credibility of an image, when the subject owns the moment.  Somehow as a photographer, you prepare everything; you direct, but you cannot impose.  It’s her or him—it’s the model that expresses.  And sometimes even when you photograph objects-- mountains, anything—it depends how you position your lens that allows you to tell your stories. It’s about the moment.  But you don’t own the moment.  The moment is the harmony between everybody on the set: hair; makeup; stylist; and the final point is the model. The way he/she believes, or how he/she could look believable in that moment it’s extreme collaboration. Like on a boat: I could be a skipper or a captain or whatever, and then you have other people there to move the boat straight and far.  It’s not an individual’s work."

On Production And The Future of Fashion

Indeed, nothing could be truer of Mr. Magni as a producer. His reputation precedes him in the fashion world as being an expert collaborator, from the beginning of a shoot to the very end, through the post-production process. “I come from the generation, where to take a picture, you have to have a knowledge of light.  ‘Photographer’ means ‘one who writes with light’; that’s the origin of the Greek words.  I tell stories with light.  The retoucher is somebody that eventually corrects, and most of the time would correct a mistake.  I like to include the retouching in the concept of the story.  It’s not where I correct my light, but transform the colors; it gives me more freedom to finalize the right color as opposed to when I started--until 1995, ‘96, ‘97, the color was corrected by filter or exposure of the film. You can use technology to make everything easier. But remember the retoucher is not an element…the post-production is just the conclusion of the pre-production concept, and not a solution."

As the conversation finds its way through the artist’s process to his philosophies on memory, we speak of the future of fashion. Not only has Magni seen the evolution of the photographic process in a digital age, as a high fashion photographer living in New York since 1986, he’s seen the evolution of fashion itself, which he embraces with open arms. He’s thrilled about the collaboration between Target and Missoni—“We live in a society where we are forced to get dressed; why not dress nicely?” Magni jokes—describing how he feels prêt-a-porter is going in a new direction.  

On Collaboration with LookBooks + TalentHouse

Today Magni has a full schedule and needs to return to his retoucher—but before he leaves, I ask about his feelings on the upcoming collaboration with LookBooks and TalentHouse. “I’m excited,” he tells me of the contest, which will revolve around a photo shoot that Magni executes. “But even a model who wins the contest should know this:  if she works with the knowledge that nothing will change dramatically in her life--it will just keep  her career moving forward in the direction that she chooses-- she will be able to take as much as she can from everybody, to learn. There is no pressure. Understand that the fashion world is still serious and totally professional, but we have fun with it. I love my job and I dedicate a tremendous amount of time to it. You’re not a nine-to-five photographer, so when I make a mistake, I learn from it. I look at it and say ‘oh, I learned something here,’ you know?

On a shoot we choose people that are right for the stories we want to tell.  So of course you try to address yourself as the most professional and talented person. You go with a concept and there is always an interpretation. Even if you go with a more precise idea, there is always their point of view that can very important.  Sometimes you agree. Sometimes you disagree or maybe during the conversation you bring the story to somewhere else. You explore."

On the Future

 One final question for Mr. Magni, “Of all the projects you’ve worked on across the globe, which has been your favorite?” Without missing a beat, “the one I will work on tomorrow,” he emphatically states.

Tiziaino Magni is represented by community.nyc.  

community.nyc

55 bethune street

suite 1207

new york, ny 10014

t: 212.213.9330

f: 212.675.7418