Category: Radio 4
Date: 23.10.2005
Printable version
Photographer Mario Testino has spoken frankly to the 91Èȱ¬ about his famous photographs of Diana, Princess of Wales.
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Speaking to Sue Lawley on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Testino says: "I tried to determine what would make the sitting special.
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"And I thought it's odd that I have the possibility and opportunity to be sitting next to her in a very private way, in a very intimate way."
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He denies having decided beforehand the natural look of the photos and says: "I thought it might be better to have her real, you know?
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"It's funny - when the pictures came out, people said to me, 'My God, you've changed her,' and I thought, I didn't do that much.
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"I don't like falseness, I like reality. I think in an unconscious way, I just wanted to feel that whoever would see the pictures would feel that they were with her."
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He also reveals the process through which the look of the photos emerged: "I said to her, 'It's really difficult for me to call you Ma'am because I call my mother ma'am and you're younger than me!'
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"And she said, 'Oh don't worry, just call me Diana,' which already broke the ice.
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"We started chatting and I said, 'Let's do it as if we're just having a conversation, the two of us, on the sofa.'
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"And that's how I started photographing her."
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Testino, whose photos of Diana, Princess of Wales are about to go on show at an exhibition at Kensington Palace, also speaks movingly about seeing the photographs again.
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"When I went to see the prints at the lab, they're large prints and I tell you, I had a knot in my throat because I could feel her.
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"She felt there, she felt next to me; it was a really, really strange thing.
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"It was my idea when I did the pictures but now when I see them blown up, they're very present, they're very real, you can feel the person.
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"She said to me at the time [that] her children had said to her it was the most 'her' they had seen."
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He also says that he feels "very lucky to be able to photograph her children" who he says "are as incredible as her."
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In the interview, Testino also reveals why he lived in the old Charing Cross Hospital for years, why he loves London and what his thoughts are on working with Kate Moss.
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Testino's song choices include My Way by Sid Vicious, Fina Estampa by Caetano Veloso and Life on Mars by David Bowie.
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His luxury item would be a pillow so he can be comfortable on the desert island.
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This interview can be heard in full on Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 at 11.15am on Sunday 23 October.
