Written 1998, about Pommery ad
Advertising jobs have never been my cup of champagne, mainly because I am not very good at following instructions from ‘creative directors’. But the Pommery ad sounded different – at first: ‘We want you to shoot a photograph for our champagne, according to your own inspiration. You are entirely free to photograph as you like. But of course you have to show a couple, he middle-aged but very distinguished, she in her late twenties, sexy but elegant; their evening is just beginning; the Pommery bottle has to be prominent, and turned in such a way as show the label.’ I accepted the assignment, on condition that there wouldn’t be any art director on the sitting. For once I followed the instructions by the letter – while still producing an image they didn’t expect: the stereotypical situation was exactly as they had requested, but I photographed it from an unusual angle, by placing myself and the camera on a platform above the models.
