Y PIRELLI
Each year a photographic vision is released from Pirelli, known as THE CAL which has iconic photographers from Karl Lagerfeld, Annie Leibovitz and more that have created imagery all over the world with notable models and celebrities to transmit their vision. This year, German photographer, Albert Watson had the task to interpret his vision through the just released THE CAL for 2019. We took some time to find out about his approach to working on this project, being on set as well as how this integrates into his body of work! ATHLEISURE MAG: How did you approach the Pirelli Calendar project? ALBERT WATSON: The Pirelli Calendar is a unique project for any photographer. When I first took it on, I wanted to do it in a way that would be different from that of other photographers, and I wondered what the best way would be. In the end, I looked for pictures that were of beautiful quality, with depth to them, and that had some kind of narrative. I wanted to create something that was more than just a portrait of somebody – I wanted it to look just like a film still. I wanted people looking at the Calendar to see that my aim was photography in its purest form, exploring the women I was photographing and creating a situation that would convey a positive vision of women today. AM: How did you formulate the project? AW: I wanted to ensure there would be a strong narrative, so I thought: “Let’s try and make the shots look like film stills.” Quite a lot of it was shot in widescreen format. And that was quite challenging. Each of the four women has her own individuality, her own particular purpose in life, and her own way of doing things. And they are all focused on their future. So the underlying theme is that of “dreams”, but the basic idea behind the whole project is that of telling a story in four ‘little movies’.
