On a somewhat gloomy afternoon in late January, during the Haute Couture-week buzz, we sneaked into the old Café de Flore to enjoy the company of Swiss portrait and fashion photographer Franco P. Tettamanti, who has been internationally recognised for the optimistic and natural quality of his work.

Tettamanti received a Medical degree and worked as an orthopaedic surgeon before deciding to devote himself entirely to photography.

When still working as a surgery assistant, he won the German Photobook Prize 2005, with his book Essence. For this project, he asked some of Switzerland’s most interesting people to write about their creativity and photographed their hands, suggesting links between personality and anatomy.

Although a true autodidact, encounters with Visionnaire’s Stephen Gan and Mario Testino in New York led him into the small, competitive fashion world. Assignments with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Leonard and Akris followed, along with numerous celebrity portraits.

New Europe: I’m very curious. Which was your most exciting shoot?

FPT:  Well, what really counts is the moment itself, the emotions and energy that you share with that person, so you can have a very successful and good photoshoot even with someone that nobody knows.

But, I’ll tell you about Gerard Depardieu. I had a really entertaining moment with him. We were in his restaurant in Paris and he had just come in from Bordeaux that morning. He was in a very cheerful mood and he was ready to do anything with me. He dragged me around and then grabbed a pig’s foot, as you can see in the portrait. It was very vivid and spontaneous, which is what I like most in a picture.

I find that you have a peculiarly humanistic approach towards your sitters. 

Yes, I like to work with the person very much. Whether it’s a personality or model, he/she has to give me something; otherwise it will never be my picture. That’s what makes the difference between a young and an experimented photographer: to be able to get them to do something for you specifically. 

Celebrities, for instance, tend to make the same expressions because they have been photographed so many times. So you have to get them out of this routine and make them pose especially for you.

So, for me, it’s really important to talk with the person and make sure he/she is comfortable. I learnt such things in Medical school. My objective is to always make my sitter look beautiful or find something beautiful in him/her and shoot an honest picture, so that there is a sort of truth in the image. Not try to put them in a strange situation. The image should also survive through time. I enjoy looking at old photographs and watching how fragments of life become more important as time goes by. I guess I could say that I’m quite classical in that respect.

Portrait photography versus fashion photography?

Portrait photography has more substance as it doesn’t depend on trends and seasons. However, fashion photography has always been somehow portrait-related. I love the work of Irving Penn, Avedon and Paul Strand, and very much admire Demarchelier, the classical side of Lindbergh or the excitement and sexiness of Testino. 

Fashion photography is commercial: my main goal is to help my client sell his product. You need to feel the moment, understand branding and marketing, to produce an image that incorporates values that people can relate to. 

For the past decade or so, fashion has tended too much to promote values that didn’t really appeal to or support life. I guess it was too much about power and helplessness and in the end, failed to bring a solution. You’d ask people after a shoot if they liked these images and none of them could really give a positive answer because although successful in appearing ‘uncommercial’, the expression wouldn’t be very good or the girl would look unattractive and unhealthy. 

Fortunately, the times when you could show ugly things are over. I think it wouldn’t work as well now that money is short and people need optimistic and familiar images. I believe that you can make an image that differentiates your brand’s identity from all the others but still be positive and funny and actually promote values that people want. 

I believe good fashion photography should convey beauty and shed light on the positive aspects of life.

lkissa@neurope.eu