Photographer Stewart Shining Debuts book on Alessandra Ambrosio
A Photographer Celebrates His Muse
Fashion photographer Stewart Shining and Brazilian supermodel Alessandro Ambrosio have had a symbiotic relationship, working closely together for more than two decades, since meeting at a photo shoot in 1998. “You’d be hard-pressed to think of many photographer/model combos that stretched over that amount of time with the consistency that she and I have had,” says Shining. “Her children are 13 and 10 now- I photographed her pregnant with each one of them.” That also speaks to how Ambrosio, perhaps best known for her work as a Victoria’s Secret Angel, has endured in a notoriously fickle field.
From Wallpaper to Victoria’s Secret PINK
The two worked together quite a lot for Victoria’s Secret, and company executives noticed their chemistry in the photos and asked them to shoot images for the newly imagined Victoria’s Secret PINK line. “We had a blast, and we came back with these pictures that didn’t look like anything that had ever been seen before at VS,” Shining recalls. “Again, we were thrown together. People just picked up on… whenever Alessandra and I shot together, they’d get twice the amount of work, and they loved the pictures twice as much as anyone else’s because we just had this chemistry.”
The two first met shooting one of the earliest covers for now-legendary Wallpaper Magazine. “She didn’t speak a word of English. She pretended to, but I could tell that her agents told her to say that,” Shining says. Ambrosio was cast along with another female model. After Shining had photographed them both he said, “We have our star,” and they politely let the other girl off for the day. “That was it. That really began our shooting together.”
The New Book
“That was more than twenty years ago, and many things have changed since that amazing shoot we did together,” Ambrosio wrote in their new book, Alessandra by Stewart Shining, which
celebrates their creative relationship. “First, I speak English now so I’m able to write this essay. I have two kids, I have worked with brands and people that I could have only dreamed of, and I got somewhat older. But all that aside, one constant thing is Stewart, my lifelong friend, confidante and everlasting source of inspiration.”
For the book project, Shining delved into his archives and kept coming across beautiful pictures that they’d done off the clock. “We’d finish the job and then I’d say, ‘Hey, let’s just you and I go down to the beach and shoot some pictures on our own.’” Some he had never seen, because he’d edit the work photos and didn’t bother to look at the personal ones.
They decided to shoot some new photos for the book, and quickly realized it was a dream project because, for the first time, they weren’t tethered to someone else’s constraints, of showing certain product details. “Picture 20 years of doing that together and then you’re let loose to do what you want. It was like the sky was our limit. We just exploded with creativity. And your rhythm, you’re so in sync. It’s an intimate experience, photographing someone.”
Rio de Janeiro: For Carnival
Over the course of a year they shot in Joshua Tree, in El Mirage, a dry lakebed in the desert outside L.A, in Santa Monica, and in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. “Rio gave me an opportunity to put
her with other people and show how joyous and how involved and how participatory she is with life, and that was a really key element. I don’t think the book would be half of what it is without it.” There were fashion shots in designer clothing, as well as nudes, which Ambrosio had rarely done before.
Calvin Klein
The magic of their relationship comes through in the pictures. “Alessandra’s naturally gorgeous, yes. But something more is going on in these photos. They’re personal,” Calvin Klein wrote in the book’s introduction. “As often as she has been photographed by others, Stewart captures what no one else has: an intimacy and fascination that draw you in. You’re seduced, riveted. This is why the photos resonate with me. I appreciate and identify with the emotion Stewart evokes.”
Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing
Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing met Ambrosio by chance while traveling, and soon after asked her to open his upcoming Paris fashion show for Fall 2015. “As she strode out onto my runway with that iconic walk of hers—that signature mix of beautiful sensuality and confident swagger— well, I couldn’t have been happier as I watched from the backstage monitor,” he recalls in the book. “Since then, Alé has been a key ingredient in many runways and campaigns for this house… Together, we’ve been able to form a sort of unique and exciting duo—Alé is a muse who constantly inspires me, and that inspiration can be seen today on every Balmain runway as well as in the pages of this amazing book shot by Stewart Shining.”
Shining brought his vision to this issue; he shot Cornelia Guest for PARK’s cover. “Stewart is a dream to work with. I never worry about anything as I know he always makes us look good,” Guest says. “He is lovely, kind, funny and a fantastic photographer. And….. he loves animals!”
