Quotes by Mario Testino

About Mario Testino:

Mario Testino is a Peruvian fashion photographer and one of the most influential fashion and portrait photographers of our time. His work has been featured internationally in magazines such as Vogue, V Magazine, Vanity Fair and GQ. He has also created emblematic images for brands such as Gucci, Burberry, Versace, Michael Kors, Chanel, Estée Lauder and Lancôme.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I have no real training in the history of fine art or furniture; my eye just works by proportions. I react intuitively. In London, it's all about color because the weather is so gray, and in that cold light they look beautiful.

Mario Testino

Some of my friends say that I only talk about myself. But it is funny: my house is covered in art but with nothing of my own, and when I'm working, I'm only thinking about what the client wants. So I don't see it that way, but maybe it's true. I mean...

Mario Testino

However spontaneous I hope a photograph will look, I always put a lot of thought into how I can make it happen. The very best pictures are the most relaxed, so a lot of fussing around technically can completely break the spell, and everyone freezes u...

Mario Testino

Even someone as photographed and aware of the camera as members of the royal family needs to feel completely comfortable if they are to look their best.

Mario Testino

I am obsessed with people and how to make them look their best.

Mario Testino

My pictures are my eyes. I photograph what I see - and what I want to see.

Mario Testino

I said to my mother, 'When you see my name in 'Vogue,' I will have arrived.'

Mario Testino

Some things happen by accident - embrace them.

Mario Testino

My favourite subjects at school were algebra and logic: making a big problem into something small.

Mario Testino

I do a lot of decision making before each shoot. It's a luxury to be able to choose what you do.

Mario Testino

The year has 365 days, and I want each and every one of them to be exciting.

Mario Testino

It's a choice - there are two different sorts of photographer: those obsessed with the technicalities and those obsessed by the subject.

Mario Testino

I've been criticised for pretty, smiley photographs, but at least someone is happy! In my mind, I am always giving the image to the sitter.

Mario Testino

My favourite words are possibilities, opportunities and curiosity. I think if you are curious, you create opportunities, and then if you open the doors, you create possibilities.

Mario Testino

You have to be you. You can't be anybody else. If you speak loudly, and people tell you to speak quietly, you can do it for a little bit, but loud people are loud, and people who are not, are not.

Mario Testino

To me, the magic of photography, per se, is that you can capture an instant of a second that couldn't exist before and couldn't exist after. It's almost like a cowboy that draws his gun. You draw a second before or after, you miss and you're dead - n...

Mario Testino

Fine artists reflect, and then they act. Fashion photographers - we act, and then we reflect.

Mario Testino

Being Peruvian means to come from the farthest place possible to get to Europe. Peru is the land of the Incas. It was the capital of South America; it was where the Spanish founded their empire and took over the Inca Empire and made it into a colony ...

Mario Testino

There's a particular style that is very Peru that you don't see anywhere else; it's got so many different imprints. When you mix Incan minimalism with the heavy, ornate Spanish Baroque, it is very interesting.

Mario Testino

When I see Kate Moss out and about, I think she looks more beautiful than when her hairdresser and make-up artist try and make her look like something else. And I remember when Madonna first asked Versace to book me to shoot a campaign with her, she ...

Mario Testino

Author Bio

  • NameMario Testino
  • DescriptionPeruvian fashion photographer
  • BornOctober 30, 1954
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionPhotographer