Photographer Albert Watson’s work is instantly recognizable — he photographed Steve Jobs for the cover of his autobiography, Kate Moss nude on her 19th birthday, and has been steadily employed by Vogue since the 70s (in fact he’s shot 100 covers for the magazine, alongside over 40 for Rolling Stone). This year, he celebrates a new landmark, following in the footsteps of Steven Meisel and Tim Walker to shoot the Pirelli calendar.
i-D interviewed Watson in 2015, and his reflections on a storied career are worth taking note of. They contain pearls such as, “When I did the shot of Steve Jobs that was on his book cover, I said to Steve Jobs, ‘Just imagine you’re across the table from a lot of people, who don’t like your ideas, but you know that you’re right.’” His one regret? “I missed the heyday of Madonna, because I was about to shoot her for Rolling Stone, but then she ended up having a huge fight with the magazine the day before and cancelled the shoot. So that was my only connection with her. I had meetings with her about what we were doing, and she seemed quite good to shoot.”
We’ve yet to hear the theme of the calendar, but if last year’s black Alice in Wonderland shoot by Tim Walker was anything to go by, Pirelli are expanding their definition of what the calendar should be. See some of Watson’s most iconic shots below.
