Georges Antoni - Photographer

Georges Antoni - Photographer Georges Antoni PhotographerPosted December 12, 2011, by Josie Chun Georges Antoni I love the fact that 100 per cent of the success of the job depends on my own abilities. If the photos are rubbish its because I did a bad job. If the photos are good its because I did a good job. I love that kind of accountability and I love the buck stopping with me. Georges Antoni is one of Australias most successful and sought after fashion photographers, with an international reputation for beautifully constructed and stylised photographs that sees him shooting for the likes of Versace, David Jones, Myer, Peter Alexander and Hugo Boss. His work has appeared in magazines such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Grazia and Oyster, and he has worked with high-profile models and celebrities including Rihanna, Miranda Kerr, Jennifer Hawkins and Dita Von Teese. He talks with Career FAQs about life as a photographer, important career lessons and being a judge on Australias Next Top Mo del. Describe your career history and what you did before becoming a fashion photographer? I have had a lot of different careers. I used to work as a sales assistant to put myself through university, so I worked at Hound Dog, Guess and Country Road. After completing Commerce/Law at university I went and worked for Coca-Cola in customer marketing, and after that I worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers as a strategic consultant. After that I started up a chain of health food shops and lectured in universities, and then I became a photographer. How did you get into photography? It welches a comedy of errors that got me into photography. Basically, I started up that chain of health food shops, and it went bust. I was left with $200 in my bank account and no options. The only thing I had was a camera and a few photos that I thought were ok. So I went to a modelling agency and said, Im a photographer, which was absolute rubbish. And from that point til now, Ive been taking photos. But if you had never done it before, what made you think of photography? I had no other options to make money. I was completely broke and owed $3000 on my credit card, and I had no other form of income so I just had to be resourceful. When I took my photos to the modelling agency, they said they liked the work and they started booking me from there. It was really my only option at the time. I was supposed to go back to PricewaterhouseCoopers to start consulting with them again in Asia, but it was around the same time that SARS hit so I wasnt allowed to travel back. So I had to think of something else and I literally had no other option. Is there such thing as a typical day on a shoot, or is every day completely different? Can you broadly describe what happens on a shoot? I think every day is very different and the end results can be very different, but you face a similar kind of challenge every day. First you walk into a studio, a completely white, blank room, and when you leave 10 to 12 hour s later the room is exactly the same but in-between some kind of magic has happened. In a typical day I walk in, meet with hair, makeup, styling and the model, and we discuss what we are going to do. Then everyone goes away and does their own individual thing. I begin to light the set and the first part of the day is usually attributed to getting it just right and doing fine tweaks to make things perfect. Often you dont get your first shot until lunch time or midday. Then you shoot until the end of the day. At the end of the day we edit, so we choose which photos we like out of maybe 1500 photos we took over the course of the day. We choose our favourite 10 if its a 10-page story. Then we pack everything up and go home, and thats when I do all my emails. I usually have between 100 and 150 emails a day. I then have to do more editing or post-production or retouching. That usually takes me to my 18-hour day and then I go to sleep. How much of the photo is created in the post-producti on and retouching? For me, 95 per cent of it will be done on the shoot, and 5 per cent would be enhanced in post. Where do you get your ideas and inspiration? Everywhere. It can be from a conversation like were having now, to my parents wedding photos, to what the sky is doing outside, to seeing someone walk down the street with an interesting pair of shoes. Inspiration for me comes from everywhere. I dont look to other magazines for inspiration very much sometimes, but more often than not, I try to get inspiration from my life. Do you ever feel creatively stifled? On occasion, but only when I am forced to have to shoot a certain way. If I was just shooting my own thing all the time, I would never have a harte nuss. I have too many ideas, I just cant get them down on paper. Are there a lot of limitations imposed on you? A lot, yes. Commercial limitations and also creative limitations. I may have an idea for a cover that I think will be fantastic, but sometimes the company will say no, we cant use that. We cant use that idea because its not consistent with our corporate strategy, or what have you. What do you love most about your job? I love the fact that 100 per cent of the success of the job depends on my own abilities. If the photos are rubbish its because I did a bad job. If the photos are good its because I did a good job. I love that kind of accountability and I love the buck stopping with me. What do you like the least? Its a hard job to find things to dislike in. But if I had to say one thing it would be some of the inflated egos I have to deal with. Most people see the world of fashion as very glamourous. Would you describe it as that? I think it certainly has got elements of glamour to it, and I think it depends on where in the fashion cycle you sit. I think my job is to create glamour. Like any beautifully presented car, say a Lamborghini, at the end of the day its totenstill got the components of engine, pistons, oil, petrol, gas dirty elements th at go into making a beautiful thing, and I think we spend a lot of time in the dirty elements section of fashion. My job is to identify imperfection and try to make it perfect. What is it like working with famous celebrities and beautiful models all the time? There is a big difference between famous celebrities and beautiful models, and theres big differences within those as well. I love shooting some celebrities and I really dislike shooting others. And I love having to make beautiful people even more beautiful. I think thats quite a challenge, actually. Its quite easy to make someone who is not necessarily conventionally beautiful into someone quite beautiful, but its hard to make a really beautiful person more beautiful. I love having to elicit peoples personalities from them without them realising it and showing it in a picture, in 125th of a second. I think that is a real challenge and its something that Im still working on becoming good at. I think it takes years to do that. I think a lot of that has to do with interpersonal skills. So is it about bringing out their personality or asking them to take on a different persona? It varies on the nature of the project but thats a great question. I think an excellent portrait is about bringing out the persons personality. I think you can also do portraits where youre asking people to assume another personality, and that in itself is interesting because you can do something that is opposed to their own personality. I think as far as models, I have a select group of models who I like working with. I dont like working with new models all the time. I think you begin to build a rapport or relationship with certain girls or guys that trust you and that trust can overcome a thousand creative barriers. I think thats when the most powerful pictures are created, and every major photographer globally has had their muses. Everyone from Helmut Newton to Guy Bourdin to Richard Avedon to Man Ray. They all have their muses. I never really understood that before I became a photographer but now I completely understand it. Because a great picture is 90 per cent to do with trust. So do you have a muse or muses? I have a few, yes. The one that I would say has been most consistently my muse is a model named Laura Gorun. Shes a Romanian model whos lived in Australia for about five to six years, as long as I have been a photographer here. I use her on probably 80 per cent of my personal work because I trust the results we get. I enjoy shooting a lot of people for different reasons. The other models I like shooting are Phoebe Griffiths, my girlfriend, and Amanda Ware, who won Australias Next Top Model last year. I shoot her quite a lot. Another is Annabella Barber. I think they are probably my favourites. Which kind of shoots do you like doing the most? I like doing my personal work the most. Fashion shoots, but they are 100 per cent my idea. That means no limitations What was it like being a judge on the sec ond season of Australias Next Top Model? When I was actually a judge, I found it very uncomfortable because its very much against my personality. I look at that show and I see these really young, beautiful girls who are beautiful no matter how you slice it. And youre asked to criticise them in ways that could really impact on them or their career. It never ever sat well with me, which is why I didnt take a permanent judging role after the second season. I couldnt do another it just goes against my personality. Still, I enjoyed being a part of the show, it was fun. You get to meet some interesting people and I love some of the other judges in the show, like Alex Perry. I really get along well with those guys and its a fun environment to be in. Would you say you have a good worklife balance? No. I think its improving but I definitely dont have a good worklife balance. The one problem when you do something you love so much and you are so passionate about, is that the line between work and play gets so blurred that it actually becomes the one thing. In a way that can be very good but for the people around you, it can be very difficult. You travel a lot for work. Is that something that you like? Its something I used to like. At the moment, I am onto my 130th flight for this year, so it gets a bit too much. For me, I would say I dont really enjoy the travel. If I had the choice, I wouldnt. Whats been your greatest career high to date? I have had a few I think. One is when I was invited to shoot the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for Harpers Bazaar, probably one of the biggest, most epic shoots in fashion in Australia. It won The Best Photo in Australia Award or something like that. I was also invited to shoot the 50th anniversary of Australian Vogue, which was fantastic. What about your greatest career lessons? I think the biggest lesson generally in this career would be to never stop being grateful for what you get. If someone asks you to shoot for somebody, no matter how big or small, it is the biggest privilege you can be given. The second biggest learning for me is humility probably one of the rarest aspects in my industry, but also I think the most valuable. How have you managed to retain your humility? I dont know that I have, but Id like to think I have. I try to. But I am sure if you asked different people, they wouldnt necessarily say that. I dont deliberately think of trying to maintain my humility but luckily my parents have always made that an important aspect of the way they brought us up. Did your