There are many great photographers who can take
a good shot.
But, very few can capture the
‘moment’.
Max is one, out of many photographers, who can
capture the true beauty.
He
describes his personal style as a photographer.
“I try to capture the personality more
than anything else.
I don’t
try to make it, necessarily like a fashion
photo-shoot; I’m trying to capture the moment.
I try to keep it as simple as
possible,” he says,
“as far as the lighting goes, and as far
as the set goes, I try to focus on the subject.”
Do you find it easier to direct the client or
does everything come natural for the both of
you, I asked?
“With the actors and actresses it’s
different than the models.”
He explains; “When we do the fashion
spread everything is thought out; we have a
scenario, we have a direction, it needs to be
directed, and it needs to be decided between
myself and my team.
As far as the actors and actresses go,
it’s different. You can give them somewhat a
direction, but I’d much rather them go show me
what they have. Again, I don’t want to give them
restrictions, I want to capture them, that’s why
we’re there.”
So many things inspires Max Abadian; daily life
events and nature, he tells me that he has high
regards for many photographers who are no longer
with us, and some who are still working,
inspires him.
I received some pointers on how to take a
portrait; “to think about comfortable things,
try to stay comfortable, do it as less posy, as
natural as possible, and to be yourself because the portrait is about you, it is
meant to capture the soul of the person.”
Max enjoys the outdoors and travel; he tells me,
one of his favorite scenes and locations, when
working is Monte Carlo.
“The Gwen Stefan shoot in Monte Carlo was
my favorite; it was a beautiful experience; all
in all it was beautiful.
She is a
fantastic, fantastic woman; she’s so easy to
work with, she’s so down to earth and humble,
which most of my celebrities we shoot are great
people and they’re great to work with and I have
high respect for people who I work with.”
I have always been fascinated by fashion
magazine covers and the fashion spreads, and I
still am, but more from the critical part of it.
I like to see the art and to understand
the concept/story behind the photo-shoot.
A few months back, Max shot the Canadian
fashion magazine cover ‘Flare’, the February
Issue 2010.
He has a long relationship with Flare.
He shot the February Issue at The
Standard hotel in New York City with model
Miranda Kerr. Miranda is a Victoria Secret
model. Victoria Secret will be opening a store
in Canada.
Max says, the shoot went very well; it
was a one day shoot, and that they shot the
whole thing in one of the suites at The
Standard.
Very surprisingly, Max has only assisted a
fashion photographer twice.
He assisted a
photographer who was taking corporate portraits
and that was it for him.
After that he wanted to do his own thing.
Max has wonderful assistants, but not
your average assistants.
“The assistants are not to help me with
the lighting; I take control of the lighting
100%.” So what do you look for in an assistant?
To make my life easier (we laughed).
I think
for me, when I don’t have the time to service my
clients.”
The advice that Max gave to the aspiring was to,
“do it for the love of it
and everything else comes and falls into
place.”
He adds; “it’s just like if you love
something, everything will work out beautifully
and lovely for you.”
Speaking with Max was a great experience for me.
He is a very down to earth guy and one of his
assistants, Marney, is lovely.
I asked Max to tell me something that no
one knows about him.
He immediately said, ‘no’, I can’t (he
laughs).
You can’t?
I actually asked a photographer that same
question, and he
said that he doesn’t have drivers license.
After telling him that, he finally gave in
and says: “I can’t skate”.
(We laughed).
Enjoy some of his work that he personally
selected.
