Tuesday 27 October 2009

Photoshoot: A Splash of Diamonds: Studio shoot with the finest bling in Hong Kong

When makeup artist Angie Pasley wanted to create a unique beauty shoot, to spice things up, we coordinated with the biggest brands in the jewellery business. 

Off the top of our heads, we rang up the sparkling offices of Cartier, De Beers, Gerrard, Harry Winston and jewellery designer Prerna Chainani (who’s range of exotic Asian inspired jewellery is sold at Neiman Marcus, New York). 

They loved the idea and sent over US$2.7 million to the humble studio of photographer James Gabbard. Inspired by the amazing range of bejeweled baubles, the artist that is Ms Pasley came up with unique looks for the magazine and styled, cast (threw bottled water at the model!) and worked her magic. 

We think the blonde might be from a bottle, but the gal's pure gold!

Producer: P.Ramakrishnan 
Photographer: James Gabbard 
Hair & Makeup: Angie Pasley 
Model: Stella

almost famous: Phoebus Chan



In a scene during the musical comedy Starry Starry Night, which ends its Kwai Ching theatre run last Sunday, Phoebus Chan Chin-hin’s character hides his face and prays that his grand piano might swallow him whole. “I played a son who loves playing the piano and the mother hates me playing because it’s not a good way of making money. In the scene, I’m trying to hide when she comes shopping in the mall where she doesn’t know I’m playing.”

It was a case of art imitating life because Chan does in fact play the piano in malls. But there is one important distinction. “The only difference between my reality and the character that I played is that my parents are supportive,” he says. “I dropped my major in biochemistry and physics to pursue my love of the piano. Doing lectures and labs 32 hours a week was not fun, so I came to Hong Kong as an exchange student (from Canada) and majored in music.”

Originally from Hong Kong, the now 23-year-old graduate has been playing professionally since Form Four and over the years, successive gigs have cropped up. Playing on soundtracks for local movies, on radio, in theatres and even malls have kept him in touch with what he loves and does best.

“I though it would be really hard to make any money in Hong Kong as a piano player, but its turned out to be pretty good. In Canada, not including radio, when I was at university, the biggest performance I ever got was playing at the library. I couldn’t stand it. Here, every other event is a big one for me whether it’s musical theatre work, composing and arranging for radio or playing in malls, it’s been good.”

During the busiest hours at the weekend, you’ll find Chan at Harbour City, playing his favourite pieces as well as taking requests form his growing fan base. He even has a bilingual website dedicated to him and a message board on which visitors leave comments on his performances. “I get young girls who come up with challenging requests. And they keep requesting songs until I don’t know one of them and then they tell me, ‘Why are you playing here? You can’t play the piano properly. Go home!’ Well, I don’t know every single piece that’s ever been composed so I don’t get too troubled.”

On August 29 and 30, he’ll be performing fusion music at Central’s Fringe Club with some friends, mixing traditional Chinese instruments with western ones, spanning from rock to Chopin. In November, he’ll be part of another local musical production and next year, he’s heading for Malaysia, where he’ll compose the entire score for a play about Buddhism.

“Playing with an international flavour is always exciting and fun. Right now the Korean music scene is really big in Hong Kong, as are the movies, so I’m listening to everything I can. Playing French music is hard, but one of my favourites because it’s different.”

Playing music for a living does, however, have its drawbacks. It can be an all-pervading passion. “I can’t sleep with music on, my brain goes on overdrive and I can see the notes like they are on paper. Whereas, when I see music sheets, I can hear the music as I read it.”

The Harbour City performances also keep him grounded. “When I’m playing, I can hear what the others are saying around me. One time, this woman with a young boy said: ‘Look at that young man playing the piano’. I was convinced a compliment was coming, but at the end of that sentence, she said: ‘If you don’t’ study hard, you’ll end up like him.’”

Monday 12 October 2009

Dancing Queen: Hema Malini: Bollywood Dream Girl in Hong Kong for a Classical Performance

A Bollywood legend steps out in style with her daughters for a show with a difference, writes. P.Ramakrishnan

She was a screen goddess in the 1970s and ‘80s and irrefutably, the first Queen of Bollywood, but Hema Malini, 61, says dance, not acting has always been her true calling. “I have faithfully remained devoted to dance,” the legendary actress says. “Even when I was acting, I made sure to find time to practice and perform. I’ve always held stage shows over the years, performed in the US, Europe and Asia in various festivals. Acting in films was a career; dance was my love.” 

Malini and her daughters Esha and Ahana Deol will be in town next week for a one-night performance of Parampara, showing Bharatnatyam, the oldest dance form of southern India, and Odissi, a traditional temple dance form Orissa (eastern India), dating back more than 2,000 years. 

“It’s our national dance,’ says Malini. “It’s what our culture is about and Bharatnatyam is my first love. My mother was a classical singer and had great interest in all arts, so she made sure by the age of six, I was learning.” 

Malini initially studied under Sikkil Ramaswamy Pillai of the Triveni Kala Sangam arts school, and was later taught by the likes of Kittapa Pillai, Vempatti China Satyam and Natranam Gopalkrishnan in Bharatnatyam, and two other dance forms, Kuchipudi and Mohini Attam. Kuchipudi is the classical dance of the south-east Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, known for its graceful movements and strong dramatic characters. Mohini Attam, from Kerala, in southernmost India, is danced only by women and is known for its sensual themes. 

“Dance is a life-long commitment,” says Malini, who took up acting in her mid-teens. She also served an apprenticeship under Mylapore Gowri Ammal in the Abhinay (the art of acting and expression) aspect of Bharatnatyam, and studied the theory and practice of Carnatic music. Through films such as Geet Govind, Durga and Draupadi, Malini helped to popularize so-called dance ballet – an accessible form of classical dance marked by its simplicity, directness and grandeur. 

Malini starred in more than 150 Indian movies during four decades, but always ensured she allocated time for dancing. “There’s a world of difference between film dancing and the traditional art,” she says. “I was very strict about not doing any vulgar movements. I would first ask the choreographer to show me the steps and if I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t do it. I’d do them my way.” 

“Even today, the way Indian cinema is going, there are many good dancers, but its up to the actress how she portrays herself. You have a choice to do or not do a movement a certain way. There are some actresses who are so good they will never appear lewd. Women have to be responsible for how they are shown and projected.” 

In her heyday, Malini was known as the Dream girl, thanks to the 1968 movie that launched her big-screen career, Sapnon Ka Saudagar (the Dream Merchant). Posters carried the alluring line: “Come meet the Dream girl”. “I had no training in acting,” she says. “Dance was it. I think dancing made me more comfortable performing in front of the camera because I knew I had to express myself. In dance, there are no words. All gestures and movements have to reveal the narrative. “In movies, there’s dialogue and song and your face doesn’t have to exaggerate to display emotion as much. There were no schools for acting and training courses like there are now. I took what I learnt from my background and made it work for me.”

Although her youngest daughter, Ahana, has shied away form Bollywood, Esha, 23, is a popular star. Neither has attained the deified status of their mother, who was yet again voted as one of India’s most beautiful women. 

Unlike her own mother, Malini says she hasn’t pushed her daughters – although she certainly didn’t discourage them from following in her footsteps. 

“Everything I am is because of my own mother,” she says. “She wanted me to dance, I did. She wanted me to act, I did. I didn’t push my daughters to anything, but I did encourage them to learn dance from early on. In my early years, I was in Tamil Nadu, where you can easily learn Bharatnatyam, but my kids grew up in Mumbai and its much harder. They had to travel to their teachers and they were in school, so it was a bit much. And they did whine and complain,” she says with a laugh. “But now, it’s the most beautiful thing that binds us together.”

Malini says she’d like to team up with Esha in a film. “Eventually, I’d like to act and want to direct a film with her, but there’s a paucity of good writers and suitable subjects. I can’t do rubbish and I can’t sit at home and do nothing. We’re lucky that we have dance.” 

For the two-hour, Hong Kong show, the trio will perform solos and duets in various styles and costumes, with all three dancing a finale.

“The rhythm and harmony is perfect when we all dance,” says Malini. “We all live together, rehearse together, compose together. Daughters are like an extension of the mother, of oneself.” 


Click on any of the images to see larger pictures.

Old Haunts

By P.Ramakrishnan

I spent my formative, volatile teen years in the West Wing… of Green Lane Hall on Blue Pool Road. The paint-chipped block is anything but presidential, but it proudly sustains the Hong Kong tradition of effusive monikers, particularly in Happy Valley, where addresses such as Celestial Gardens and Beverly Hills thrive.

For nearly a decade, the 12th floor of the government housing estate for expatriate workers was a haven for my school friends and I, as we slipped out of physical education classes, soon after roll call. We watched Oprah, in the good old days of trashy mid-afternoon programming. Where the school curriculum failed, Oprah taught us about life, with fare such as, “My reunion with my one-night stand” (this was the show’s early days, before it turned holier-than-thou).

The block is full of moist-eyed memories for me, even though I left more than a decade ago. Every time I drive past, I count three floors from the top. If a shadow passes the curtains, I squeal, “There’s someone in my room!”

My room now is the size of two and a half coffins, so memories of the 2,600 sq ft abode still dance in my mind.

On a whim recently, I walked down memory lane to a place I once called home.

Where once a grumpy, tanned septuagenarian watchman chain-smoked on a wooden stool, a metallic rod bolts the entrance. Instead of the slow, cranky relic of a lift that groaned when the more rotund residents entered it, a silver contraption announces the floors in Cantonese, English and Putonghua.

When I got to the door of my old home, painted in another coat of beige, I was tempted to ring the bell and sneak a peek inside. Would the lemon-tea stain in the living room (remnant of a food fight with my friend Farheen) still be there? Was the floor the same café-au-lait woodwork or had someone carpeted over it? Did the apartment have more than one phone-line (teen years of begging for another came to naught)? Was the “snot-green” kitchen untouched, or had someone painted it a more palatable shade?

Walking back and away, reflecting on the changes I had already seen, I knew there were some questions best left unanswered.


Published in South China Morning Post, City pages, relationship column.

Saturday 10 October 2009

Wheel of Fortune
















































When the new Mercedez SL Class came on location of our first fashion shoot, the sleek black car took our breath away. The polished look of the brand new car set the tone and theme of the spread. Photographer Jonas Lille created this shoot inspired by the dark hues of the fall/winter collection of many luxury brands. Highlighting the minimalist trends in men’s and women’s wear, the biggest brands have kept it simple.



Produced by P Ramakrishnan
Photography by Jonas Lillie
Stylist: Shiva Shabani
Makeup: Karen Yiu
Models: Claudia B and Brandon at Model Management
Car: Mercedez Benz, SL Class

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Glowing in the Dark






















Unquestionably, The Peninsula is Hong Kong’s most renowned and recognised ‘brand’. The prestigious hotel is often voted the best in Asia, if not one of the best in the world. From royalty (Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana and Prince Charles), Hollywood superstars (Jennifer Lopez, Tom Cruise) to rockers (Bryan Adams), they have all stayed at The Peninsula over the years. Fiercely guarding the privacy of their respected VIP guests, we are very honoured that, for the first time, our magazine is the first publication that has the privilege of doing an exclusive shoot at their newly launched Salon De Ning. At the private enclaves of this beautiful new venue, we present what’s hot this season, at the coolest venue in town.


Produced by P.Ramakrishnan
Photography by Olaf Mueller
Stylist: Shiva Shabani
Hair & Makeup: Karen Yiu
Models: David and Zoe
Venue: Salon de Ning at The Peninsula, Hong Kong



BEHIND THE SCENES:

Working with Olaf is always fun. Apart from being one of the best in the biz, Olaf and Jessica, his lovely model-wife, are two of my fav people in Hong Kong. I saw his work in Kee magazine ages ago and kept his name on file. He's done nearly all my 'first' covers. Being as good as he is, he's also one of the few people I trust implicitly that I can leave the set and know everything will be done on time and be perfectly printable. Others, I have to hover over to make sure I get what I want for the mag.

This was also a second shoot with stylist Shiva Shabani, who is amazing and yum to work with. A great eye, a great relationship with brands, we also clicked from the word go. As mentioned before, after a horrific time in the last rag I worked for, life's too short to work with idiotic people who give more grief than relief!


Again, Karen Yiu was on board to oversee hair and makeup. Perfection.

And two of the great joys in my life, Savanna and Adyr helped out too. Thanks to Shiva, there was copious wardrobe and accessories and this was one of the biggest shoots we did and had the largest team behind it.

And you don't know pro until you've worked with a hotel staff like the Peninsula. They were sooooooo good to us, fed us and generally took care of the entire team 'cause it was a long freakin' shoot!

Time for Beauty



Bedazzling! This season is all about colour and diamonds. Gone are the muted shades of winter and with spring around the corner, colour is back with a bang. Reflecting that, celebrated makeup artist Karen Yiu tracked the latest trends in makeup and fashioned this beauty shoot mirroring the vibrant colours of the season. To add an extra sparkle, we approached the finest luxury watch brands and they sent their hottest lines; all dotted with diamonds! Take a time out with our sizzling beauty shoot.

Producer: P.Ramakrishnan
Photographer: Jonas Lille
Makeup & Styling: Karen Yiu
Model: Bethany T

BEHIND THE SCENE:

I wanted to produce a simple and uncomplicated shoot using watches as props. Ok I lie. I didn’t care for the watches but our readers sure did. Hong Kong/China’s fascination with arm candy (of multiple sorts!) never ends.

This shoot was prepped and planned over the weekend while caffeinating with my favourite model, the oh-so-fine Mz Bethany Taylor. Our philosophy was kiss. Er, Keep It Simple Stupid! So I gathered all my pps for the shoot and the handful of us created this non-corny watch shoot. Watches, model, photographer, makeup and hair. That’s it and a fab eight-page spread came out of it.



Karen Yiu, one of the best in the biz (on the planet), deserves much of the credit as I genuinely believe she took it to another level. Inspired by the patterns and the hues of the watches, she created a makeup colour palette for each of the shots and changed the look of Beth from page to page.

Jonas and I’ve worked together on and off over the past few years and he’s sooooooooo freaking good at what he does. Better to leave him alone to his own vices and devices, every shoot he’s produced for me has been brilliant, way above and beyond what I expected. Will put up the series asap.

A chance encounter at Goccia and Beth and I’ve been friends ever since. My model, my muse, I’ve done more shoots with Beth than any other gal, and you can see why. = o)












BTW the sharp and clear shots are by Jonas! The blurry blurs are by me!

Monday 5 October 2009

One moment in Time: Patrick Lichfield

.


Counted in one hand among the greatest photographers in the world, Lord Patrick Lichfield has captured some of the most memorable moments, iconic people, historical figures, rulers and royals as no other photographer in England has. Today he is undoubtedly more famous than most of the subjects he captures on film - except perhaps the British royals who he still portraits. While others caught on Kodak for headlines, he created history. A memorable conversation with the man for whom all seasons look better when caught on his new digital camera. By P.Ramakrishnan. Portrait by Paul Morgan. Other images courtesy of Patrick Lichfield.


Photography captures a slice of life, a sliver of time and, in essence it can be done at the right time and right place with a mere click. Pressing the correct button in a fraction of a second for a picture that can last for centuries. And yet there are few who’ve captured people and places the way Patrick Lichfield has (within minutes of greeting, in a kind, avuncular manner, he asks us to forget the formality of addressing him as Lord).

Not only his lordship, but his studio itself is a landmark, coated in fresh white paint and brocaded with navy blue patterns. The home hyphen studio among rows of uniform, redbrick houses stands out from a distance. An edifice that has greeted the most famous faces on the planet, as they bypass the paparazzi and enter the private enclave of his studio, only happy to be clicked and caught on his camera.

Heading to his office, the corridors are lined with portraits of people that need no further introduction; Nicole Kidman, Dame Edna, Queen Elizabeth, Naomi Campbell, the late Princess Diana…

In his office, not even an inch of the wall is visible. Maps of the world studded with pins marking all the places he’s shot (everywhere except the Arctic and the South pole!), family pictures, friends and colleagues from shoots around the globe, calendars and notes on pending work and evidence of his most memorable ones, private notes penned by the enviable and the elite, all mounted in paper-mâché like montage of his incredible body of work.

“Yes, its been a good life,” he says with a chuckle, patting an encyclopedic volume of his best pictures, a collector’s edition of shots in a one-and-a-half inch thick binder, filled with colour and black and white photography, a book that’s currently out of print.

It’s hard to pinpoint what he’s most remembered for, so we meander through every possible subject related to photography and in essence of the rich life of a nomadic chronicler of our time.

First off, places. Starting with his home.

“London is wonderful to photograph as its basically a city of contrasts, and its at its best, very early in the morning. Most people don’t get up and bother to do that. The light is always interesting at that hour and I tend to shoot all my street scenes very early and the mixture of architecture, because the city has evolved for so long provides so many choices," says Lichfield.

"It’s difficult to say London has a look, like Hong Kong has a look but it certainly has a feel. London’s a great place to shoot pictures… if you don’t mind the rain! There are certain locations like, by the Thames, which are shot often by tourists and they wonder why it doesn’t look as good as it does on postcards – for the simple reason, they don’t get up early and shoot it in the morning!”

The rich timbre of his voice is interrupted by a chuckle.

“It has wonderful parks, which as a photographer, I use all the time. You’ve got country in the middle of London,” he says, reminding me of the digital picture he took of Dame Edna, having tea in a garden, a striking image of contrasts between her (or his!) bubblegum purple wig and the lush verdant grass that escapes into the background. “That was a fun feature, I got him to dress as he was, and then the persona of Dame Edna and we morphed it together – as though he was serving tea, well, essentially to himself! A challenge, but tremendously fun.”

When in search of character and colour, Lichfield says he has a fondness for markets. “I particularly go for the markets in Portebella road. They’re quite used to being shot so they don’t really mind. The problem most people have with photographing strangers is that, people don’t find it offensive and, well, if they do create a fuss, then just move on. When you see a particularly interesting person, I shoot them from a long lens and then move in, they just might say no when you get closer.”

Your average Joe on the street might not blink at being captured on film, but there are some infamously difficult subjects that, well, ever the gentleman, Lichfield refuses to list.


“I’ve shot many actors and politicians and of course models. The main thing is to tell people what you want to do and then be quick. Speed. I have a rule, which is to be ready for anything. When you’re going to shoot a person, the Queen for example, you want to get there a couple of days before and just look at the location. When they’re with you, you don’t waste a second. I do this for everything. Even if it means, travelling abroad, look at the location, come back, then go again with all your equipment and then shoot. That’s probably my army training, being prepared.”

As he leans back into the chair, just beyond his halo of silver and peppered hair, there’s an unpublished shot of the Queen of England. How does one appease someone, routinely hounded by the photographers?

“There are tricks to helping people relax. I suppose the most obvious one is explaining to people what you’re attempting to do, after all, the photographer is only half the picture. The person has to collaborate with you and cooperate with you to make it work. Sometimes you get a person who just isn’t prepared to do that. Trying to get Bob Geldoff to smile, I just don’t know how to do it! I’ve tried, and I’ve tried and tried.”

Chuckling at the memory of his failed attempts, even he knows he’s captured the Irish star skilfully… smile or no smile.

“Its often worth looking at pictures that other people have taken and see what you can get, not to copy but just to get an idea to see the face, to see if its interesting in one side or another, if you need animation or need something quite solemn. Geldoff was solemn!”

It can get rather defeating if you’ve got two strong individuals, unwilling to compromise. There is the infamous David Letterman incident, when, at a shoot with Richard Avedon for GQ magazine, Avedon, a stickler for perfection and no less eccentric than his subject, asked the American talk show host to get rid of the gum in his mouth. Letterman said he’d hide it in the back and refused to spit it out. So vexed was the legendary photographer, Avedon walked out.

Cracking into a smile, Lichfield is all too familiar with that tale. “Ah Avedon. I knew Avedon, he told me about that incident. There have been others. How he had a terrible time with Duke and Duchess of Windsor. He went outside, invented a disaster and came back behind the camera, told them what he had seen, which involved their dogs getting run over. Just as he told them that, he clicked and captured their look of horror and grief. I don’t…", he pauses, derailing his train of thought and continuing.

"I try not to do that sort of thing! If people are simply not cooperating, I would do the same thing, I wouldn’t walk out but, I’d tell them, you’re wasting my time, I’m wasting your time.”

Ever the pacifist, the 40-years of experience in the field has brought a Zen like calm, which doesn’t seem to shake when things don’t go according to plan.


He explains, “It is terribly important to see it as a joint venture. The trick lies in engaging the subject, telling them what your ambition is with the picture. See that picture – points to a portrait of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip – well that was just four shots on digital and they were so excited about it. I’d take a shot, put in up on the computer and they would see it, then we’d take another shot, they would rush to the computer to see it crop up. It was the most exciting thing they had seen, at the time! Digital to them was quite new as you can imagine.”

But when the tables turn, when Lichfield himself is being shot, he’s all too familiar with the game. "Oh I hate being photographed... the nose. The horror."

Everyone in the room erupts in laughter. “The most difficult thing, when I’m being photographed, the most difficult times are when people haven’t had a chance to look around, they don’t know what they want. When someone really knows what he wants to do, then, that’s fine.”

Do you enjoy being photographed?
“Not much. But I can tell what tricks they’re pulling. I tend to run when people put on a wide angle lens because I know how big my nose is!”

Other than his legendary photography campaigns, in particular the ones he’s done for the Mandarin Oriental, there’s something rare and exquisite about the faces he captures. Even the most benign and mundane head becomes interesting in his light. What makes a face interesting to you I ask?

“Bone structure is what they’re born with, lighting is what you add to it. You can altar people’s faces by a number of means, lighting is principal one, choice of lenses can work for you or against you. For portraits I tend to never shoot with anything less than a 90mm lens. Not beyond 200 because you tend to compress too much. Eyes are what really matters. The first thing you connect with people is the eyes, if the eyes are strong in the picture, it draws you to it.”


Do you prefer taking black and white (bw) pictures?
“I grew up taking bw pictures and there was very little colour shot in the ‘60s. it was a bw era and that’s when I started. I tend to look at things in a way that young photographers now aren’t trained to do because they see things only in colour. You have to learn to see in bw, it has for me a nostalgic magic. If you take the great books by the best photographers, like the ones done by Avedon, I can’t even think of his works in colour. He did the Beatles in amazing colour but his iconic pictures are in bw."

Looking at the posters of his most famous shots, in each image, the person captured attains an aura, an aesthetic persona which begs the question, does everyone look good or better in bw?
“No, not everybody does but you can give a different feel to a picture, very often its more livable with. If I’m doing portraits now, I’ll show somebody the black and white on my screen and give them options and its amazing how often they’ll choose the black and white.”

“Just see that picture of my children,” he says pointing to a framed trio of youngsters perched in miniature table between two chaises in his office. “If you had that same shot in colour, it would not be so peaceful. Therefore, it would jar. The other thing about bw is that it doesn’t date!”

Even before I’ve completed the question, Lichfield responds to, 'Have you ever been nervous dur… ?'
“I’m nervous every time I shoot. If I wasn’t nervous, I wouldn’t take good pictures. I’m not absurdly nervous but I get a bit tense. I’ve got to try there’s always a chance that somebody’s not going to like a shot. I might just get people wrong and I don’t think anyone always gets it right. There’s no fail safe. Even Tendulkar can’t score a 100 every time!”

We’re both quick to agree as the Indian cricketer (one of his favourite sports) has had a streak of ill-fated games recently.

“One of the marvellous things about photography is that, even if its digital, it’s a split second before you see it. And it isn’t always the same as you’ve just seen it in the lense. When its suddenly two-dimensional on a screen or a page, it is different. The other reason I’d never gone back to film is the risk factor.”

It may seem eons ago but flip the calendars back a little, and the possibility of drawing blank sheets of white paper in a lab, after a lengthy session was not uncommon.

“One of the biggest problems we had travelling around the world, hauling our equipment and shooting everywhere, you never quite knew what you’re got. Polaroids were a wonderful new thing when it happened in 1971. It basically gave you the idea that your lights were all working and the exposure was all correct, you had an idea of the sharpness of the image but when it appeared on paper, it was a bit of surprise to everyone. Myself included. Now, I shoot it straight to a computer.”

“The risk factor’s gone down and also the airport problems of anyone spoiling your film. I can manipulate the pictures so that in a way it makes you lazier. If you’ve got a perfect Taj Mahal shot and you’ve got one guy sweeping leaves in the distance, wearing a fluorescent jacket, we used to have to wait and wait or bribe him or something to move away. Now you can disregard that and just Photoshop it. Its too easy now for young photographers.”

At a stage when he’s in his own bracket and beyond rivalry and competition, Lichfield is generous with praise and fondness for many a photographer in the field. Recalling a memorable lunch with his colleagues and contemporaries, he punctuates his final anecdote with a healthy laugh;

“I was in Paris with 11 other photographers, all much more famous than me. Avedon, Annie Lebowitz, David Bailey, Parkinson and so on. And we were all walking through the park after lunch. We’re strolling along. And a pair of English students recognised me and they came up to me and said, ‘Excuse me guv, can you take my picture?’

So I said, ‘All right’, then took a picture and then said, ‘Look there’s a guy here who’s much better than me and he should take a picture.’

I turned around, said, ‘David, come here, take a picture.’

Then David shoots and then he says, ‘Actually, there’s someone else who’s better!’

And then he gives it to Helmut and then the same thing happens and he calls Annie over and she takes a picture.

‘Hang on’, the kid looks up and says, ‘That’s our f***ing film you’re wasting!’