giancarlo
So we’re back in the lobby of The Carlton in Cannes. It’s a job where I’ve been asked to shoot any celebs that come down through the lobby before going to their cars outside. I was told originally that I would be the only one shooting, but that quickly and predictably wasn’t true, there was someone from the hotel shooting as well. We made small talk but the language barrier made it quite exhausting for both of us I think.
At one point a famous model came down I moved in to shoot her but the hotel management told me I couldn’t - and that only the hotel photographer would photograph her privately somewhere else. This was also the person who told me I’d have full access less than 24hrs before. So they go off towards the back and I go back to the middle of the lobby and wait for someone to appear. Before I even stop a man comes downstairs, very well dressed with a lovely smile. We meet eyes and I think its him. But his reaction to our eye contact seals it for me. He knowingly slows down as I approach him and say that we have to shoot now that we’ve smiled at each other. He laughs and agrees, he just has to get a key from the front desk first. “Great! Let’s shoot there” I say. So I follow him to the front desk where I stand him next to the lamp and snap away for a few seconds. I didn’t need to pose him, he’s a pro. I didn’t even need to ask the staff member in the background to move because he’s also a pro apparently - having the staff members smiling in the background actually added something quite unexpected to the portrait.
I say thank you - he gets his key. I tried to shoot him again somewhere else but it just didn’t work - so I abandoned it and let him go. He again gave me that lovely smile and a wave as he got into his car which I also captured as he pulled away. Giancarlo is a nice person and that makes me happy.