Any Objections? [Paperback]

Mario Testino (Author, Photographer), Patrick Kinmonth (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2004

A collection of bold, fun, colourful images giving an insight into the life of Mario Testino, one of today's top fashion photographer. Over the past few years the name of Mario Testino has become synonymous with the cutting edge of fashion photography. His redefining images of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Madonna, as well as numerous campaigns for Gucci, Versace, Missoni and others, have established him as an arbiter of Nineties style. Born in Lima, Peru, he moved to London in his twenties and set about becoming a photographer. His tremendous energy and love of life carried him through the tough journey that finally earned him innumerable pages in Vogue and an address book that is positively bursting at the seams. Any Objections? is Testino's first book. Provocative and sometimes shocking, it is a lightning roller-coaster of unpublished images which brilliantly illuminates the vision of one of photography's shrewdest eyes. Fashion and the gutter, nature and artifice, high life and low, jostle for his attention. Faces of the very famous in the least expected places, bodies of the very beautiful, landscapes and cities, close friends and extraordinary passersby all find their place in a pattern which is held together by Testino's evident sense of the absurd. The book is an insight into the raw material of fashion, where a glimpse of life from a street in Tangier can be the inspiration for a fashion story in New York. At once diary and commentary, picture after picture (all reproduced full-page) provoke reactions as diverse as their subject-matter: from shock to amusement and from surprise to delight. Whether or not you have any objections, you can't help being intrigued by Testino's very personal view of the world that surrounds him.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fashion photographer Mario Testino takes pictures of what he sees--and what he sees most is models. His color-drenched fashion work is well known to readers of magazines like Vogue. He has a particular knack for catching famous posers off guard--Naomi Campbell looking over her shoulder as her exceedingly low-cut dress is zipped up her back(side); Carla Bruni, backstage at Dior, fully made-up and fully unclothed, shielding herself from Testino's spotlight. Madonna, perhaps his most famous celebrity muse, dancing offstage with her brother. All of these images are vibrant and compelling. But Testino's strength as a photographer is truly revealed when he puts his lens to less glossy images: a man's torso, crisscrossed with sheet marks; a stark black-and-white dual portrait of two young Muscovites; goldfish swarming in a plant-filled tank; a crowded, bronzed South American beach.

The hundreds of previously unpublished photographs that make up Any Objections? are reproduced on full pages of heavy, pearly paper, unfettered by captions (the photos are all easily referenced at the back of the book). If you don't think you'll be able to resist the urge to tear out the pages to hang them on the wall, you might consider buying an extra copy. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Mario Testino's first book, this text reproduces his images that have made his name synonymous with the cutting edge of fashion. His images of the Princess of Wales and Madonna are included as well as his numerous campaigns for Gucci, Versace, Missoni and others.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 146 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (July 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714838845
• ISBN-13: 978-0714838847
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent photograpy - Content: sexual and droll, October 1, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Any Objections? (Paperback)

Testino's photographs combine sexuality and whimsy in blatant and subtle ways. The more you look at the photographs and their titles, the more you are aware of his slyness and ambisexuality. As he roams the world, he finds amusement in this sexuality, and captures it with a wily smile.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Objections Here, June 14, 2007

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Any Objections? (Paperback)

In fashion photographer Mario Testino's first published book of photographs (1999) he shows over and over that he has a wicked sense of humor, a priceless asset for anyone and certainly for a photographer. Who else would shot an aroused elephant ("Jumbo")? Or Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss seated facing each other on toilet seats? (One of these women is buck naked but you'll have to purchase the book to see which one.) There is also a series of four photos that are entitled "Roving Fingers." Check out what I call the mad-hatter carrying a sign that reads "Gays in the Millinery." There is lots of skin here since several of the photographs are of scantily clad folks at the beach in Rio de Janiero. Many of these images are far more erotic than the much posed models currently published in so many photography books. (I would put the photo entitled "Dreamer" in this category.) Many of the people are so real that you can almost smell them. the two-page foldout of a painter in Lima ("Exhibitionist") comes to mind. There is much cleavage, both fore and aft and just as many crotch shots as well.



A word about the layout: there are several pages that fold out with photographs that mirror each other. Although the pages are not numbered, the photographs are reproduced in smaller size in the back of the book, complete with titles and the places where they were shot: Rio de Janiero, Paris, Naples, Moscow, Miami, New York, Moscow, etc.



Almost everyone in this hooty volume appears to be having a good time. You will too if you pick up this book that several books published later imitate but do not surpass.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wake me when it's over!, December 7, 1998

By 

J. Gentile (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Any Objections? (Hardcover)

This book was a disappointment, and I felt the purchase was money wasted. There was no wit, no humor and precious little eroticism. What it does have in abundance are images of uninteresting and (mostly) ugly people. Only the photo of Elton John and David Furnish giddily jumping on a bed shows any idea that the photographer was having fun. Hey Amazon, can I have my money back? You're welcome to this book.