Lessons from Portrait Photographer Albert Watson

Albert Watson is blind in one eye. Has been since birth. And somehow that's the guy who became one of the sharpest eyes fashion photography has ever had. Over 200 Vogue covers. Portraits people can sketch from memory without even looking at the photo again. There's something almost funny about that.

To me, the technical side isn't even the interesting part, though there's plenty of it. It's the restraint. Watson talks about a "secret formula of memorability." Say a name, Mike Tyson, Steve Jobs, and you can already picture the shot in your head. You don't have to go search for it. That's rare. It's also the opposite of what Robert Frank was doing with The Americans, no control over the frame, all the mess and chance left in. Watson wants every single element locked down before he even loads film.

Watson was born in Edinburgh in 1942. Studied graphic design in Dundee, then film and television at the Royal College of Art in London. He wasn't even trying to become a photographer. Moved to LA in 1970 because his wife got a teaching job there, and he started shooting almost as a side thing. First paid job was a test shoot for Max Factor. They bought two frames. That's it, that's how it started.

Lessons from Albert Watson

What camera did Albert Watson use?

Hasselblad early on, medium format, let him move fast without losing quality. Later he went deep into large format, a 4x5 Horseman and an 8x10 view camera for years. Wild part: the Steve Jobs portrait, the one on Isaacson's biography, was still shot on 4x5 film in 2006. Long after most of the industry had already gone digital. These days he shoots mostly on Phase One medium format backs, and carries a Leica Q for handheld stuff.

Books by Albert Watson

Start with Cyclops from 1994, his first book, and yes, the title is a nod to the one blind eye. Maroc came in 1998, a diary of 39 days photographing Morocco. UFO: Unified Fashion Objectives and Strip Search both dropped in 2010, Kaos came out through Taschen in 2017. If you want less pictures and more how-he-thinks, get Creating Photographs from 2021. It's basically him talking you through fifty years on set.

What he actually does differently

He plans before he shoots. Not winging it and hoping something happens, he goes in knowing roughly what he wants, then leaves room for the moment itself to do something unexpected.

He trusts daylight more than you'd expect from someone known for such graphic, controlled images. That Kate Moss shot in Marrakech, the famous one, happened because she closed her eyes against the afternoon sun. That was the whole trick. Kind of reminds me of Joel Meyerowitz and his whole obsession with street light, except Watson gets a full crew standing by to wait for it.

He treats a session like directing, not documenting. Says you have to be the dominant force on set. Not pushy, just clear about what you want from someone.

And he never overcomplicates things. Jobs portrait took twenty minutes. Plain background, plain pose, plain light. His whole point, I think, is that simple and memorable usually end up being the same thing.

The story behind the work

His first celebrity shoot was Alfred Hitchcock, only a couple years into his career. Photographed him holding a plucked goose, of all things. Odd choice. But it worked, and it hinted at the graphic clarity that would define basically everything he shot after. 1976, he got his first Vogue job, moved to New York, and that's really where things took off. Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Mick Jagger double exposed as a leopard, Jack Nicholson blowing smoke rings, Uma Thurman, eventually Jobs.

He's also spent decades shooting stuff that has nothing to do with fashion at all. Las Vegas landscapes. Still life shots of King Tutankhamun artifacts. A snake charmer in Morocco. Mountains on the Isle of Skye. That range is the part people tend to forget about him. Funny contrast to Vivian Maier, who shot just as much personal work and never showed a single frame of it to anyone. Watson's version of a side project still ends up in a gallery.

Facts about Albert Watson

Born in Edinburgh in 1942. Blind in one eye since birth.
Studied graphic design in Dundee, then film and TV at the Royal College of Art.
Moved to LA in 1970 for his wife's job, not for photography.
First paid work: a Max Factor test shoot. They bought two images.
First celebrity portrait ever was Alfred Hitchcock holding a goose.
Landed his first Vogue job in 1976 and moved to New York the same year.
Over 200 Vogue covers worldwide. Around 40 Rolling Stone covers too.
Photo District News named him one of the 20 most influential photographers ever, next to Irving Penn and Richard Avedon.
Won a Grammy in 1975 for album cover photography.
The Steve Jobs portrait took twenty minutes to shoot.
That Kate Moss 18th birthday portrait was shot on nothing but natural sunlight.
Got an OBE from the Queen in 2015.
Shot on 4x5 and 8x10 large format film for years, long after most people had moved to digital.
Shoots mostly digital now, Phase One medium format.
Directed over 100 TV commercials and shot movie posters, Kill Bill included.

Honestly, the more I look at his work, the more I think the "style" people talk about with Watson isn't really a style at all. It's just knowing exactly what he wants before he presses the shutter, and being disciplined enough to leave everything else out of frame.