A-lister photographer Albert Watson on why Skye is his favourite place to capture

HE has shot the biggest stars in the world for the most prestigious magazines.

Albert Watson has captured the perfect image of A-listers, from pop superstars to presidents, in some of the world’s most exotic locations.

But, the photographer admits, he has never been happier than hunkered down in the wind and rain of Skye, framing the wild beauty of one of Scotland’s most spectacular islands.

Albert, 76, lives in New York but a holiday in Skye 20 years ago made him want to come back and capture it on film.

“It stayed with me as being an unusual, interesting and charismatic place and I wanted to shoot the landscapes,” Albert said.

“It was a personal project and a real case of getting back to my roots. I planned it for two years and I went in with a complete back-up crew to help me.

“I was there for six weeks and we did 12 hours every single day. We got up in the dark and finished in the dark.”

Such is Albert’s attention to detail, he spent three days just photographing the surface of lochs as the wind changed the patterns on the water.

“I was looking for something mysterious that had atmosphere. I deliberately went in October and November because I was hoping for bad weather – and of course I got it. I find blue sky with white fluffy clouds deadly when it comes to creating a powerful landscape and I was looking for wind and rain and mist.”

Albert is just putting the finishing touches to his Isle of Skye work, which will be shown at one of his forthcoming acclaimed global gallery and museum shows.

Throughout his career, which took off in America in the mid-1970s, Albert, who was born in Edinburgh, has photographed hundreds of world-famous faces from The Queen to Clint Eastwood, David Bowie to Michael Jackson, Andy Warhol to President Clinton.

Preparation, he insists, is the key.

“When that person walks through the door it’s never a case of saying, ‘I’ve not quite figured out what I’m doing, I’ll come back to you in half an hour’,” said Albert. “I’m always super-organised and the real preparation isn’t the equipment, that should be a given, it’s the amount of homework you’ve done on the person.

“I photographed Al Pacino and we checked and learned he never ate in the morning but he did like an espresso. We bought a machine, found out his favourite blend of coffee and that he liked it with a slice of lemon rind on the side.

“When he arrived we were able to offer him that and these things work wonders where you are dealing with a celebrity.”

Albert is the man behind the camera for more than 100 Vogue covers worldwide and over 40 Rolling Stone covers.

His latest high-profile commission is the 2019 Pirelli calendar, the eagerly anticipated images from which will be unveiled in early December.

The 12 photographs feature four supermodels, actresses and ballet dancers, Gigi Hadid, Julia Garner, Misty Copeland and Laetitia Casta, whom Albert shot in Miami and New York.

The calendar has been known for semi-nude portraits but while Albert says he has done “plenty of pin-up shots” he was looking for something a bit different.

“I didn’t avoid pin ups because of the #MeToo movement. That’s a non-issue for me,” said Albert. “If I was ever doing nudes I’d call up and speak to people and show them examples of what I’d want to do.

“If they said they didn’t want to do it then that was the absolute end of the discussion. In recent years the Pirelli calendar has either used celebrities or supermodels.

“You’re not going to say to a supermodel or Nicole Kidman that if you don’t pose nude I’ll ruin your career. That’s just stupid.”

Having the sight in only one eye has proved no barrier to Albert conquering the world stage. He insists he has no plans to retire, with plenty more projects he wants to tackle and photographs he wants to take.

And his time at the Duncan of Jordanstone College in Dundee was the grounding that led to global success.

“The four years I had studying graphic design there were very formative in what I do now, which is very diversified,” said Albert. “I might do a landscape in the Fairy Glen and then be looking at a poster for Kill Bill or Steve Jobs. Then it might be a fashion shot or a cover of Vogue.

“Sometimes people have a problem because you’re not known for a particular genre. But the education I had in graphic design is written all over my work.”

Mick Jagger

An iconic shot of Mick Jagger with a leopard’s face was another of Albert’s photos that went round the world.

“That was almost a mistake. I wanted a shot of Jagger in the front seat of a corvette with the leopard but we spoke about it together and realised it was just too dangerous. So I put plexiglass in to keep it away from him. While I was waiting I did a double exposure, photographing the leopard and then Jagger. I wasn’t even going to process the film as I thought it’d be a waste of time.”

 

Lady Gaga & Madonna

Lady Gaga was almost one of the famous faces on the new Pirelli calendar.

“Doing the days for the shoot was no problem for her but you also have to attend the premiere and she is at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas then.

“She would have been an interesting one.

“I missed photographing Madonna. There was a shoot set up and the day before I think she got into a fight with the editor of Rolling Stone and cancelled it. I was a bit sad that never happened.”

Alfred Hitchcock

A huge early breakthrough was a striking photograph in 1973 of Alfred Hitchcock holding a dead goose.

“I was so happy to get that job. They wanted a large platter with a cooked goose but I thought it would make him look like a waiter.

“The best thing I did was doing him holding a plucked goose instead. Hitchcock could see I was nervous and he really contributed, looking at the goose and pretending to cry. Looking back now, it’s one of my favourite things.”