If you haven’t heard of Alexi Lubomirski, there’s a high probability you’ve seen the photographer’s work. After all, when you’re called upon to capture some of the most defining portraits of subjects like the British royal family—notably, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement and wedding photos—it’s inevitable that the results will flash across countless news feeds. It tracks then that Lubomirski’s third book, The Sittings: 2003-2023, which releases this week, dedicates a chapter to The Royals alongside four of his other most photographed subjects: Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Lupita Nyong’o and Jennifer Aniston. These special sections make up just a portion of the 113 portraits throughout the work, which spans the last twenty years of the fashion and celebrity photographer’s collection, a portfolio that also features the likes of Zendaya, Cate Blanchett, Serena Williams and Brad Pitt. Below, Lubomirski talks with Models.com contributor Nia Groce about his process for the new book, capturing some of his biggest subjects and his thoughts on photography today.
When did you first decide to do this book? Was this a recent decision or have you known throughout your career it’s going to build up to this type of work?
I think with any photography book, it suddenly happens when it comes to looking through your archive. And I was looking through it about a year and a half ago and started to see all these celebrities from the early 2000s, thinking, “My God, this is crazy. I’ve been doing this for a long time.” Then you realize how young celebrities look and start compiling. When you’re a creative, you just start putting images together, then you’ve got a book and you’re excited to put it out.
My first book was my first 10 years, called “Decade.” My second book was called “Diverse Beauty” and it was more of a response to—I mean now kind of things have changed, but in 2014 I remember having lots of arguments with magazines. They would say, “We’ve got a one-girl story. Who do you want to shoot?” I’d give a list of girls and they would say, “her hair is too frizzy [or] she’s not dark enough to make a statement, her hips are too big.” All these toos, and you’d end up with two top Caucasian models. I said, “Why can’t we put the dark-skinned girl on the cover?” They said, “It’s difficult because we’re not sure if they can sell high fashion.” So then I did the book to prove that you can have any kind of beauty at all sorts of ages, shapes, sizes, colors and everything in high fashion.
What was your selection process like for your new book?
It was tricky because, with so many celebrity shots, I had to think, “How am I going to get them all into a book?” So we decided to only give one page per celebrity. But then I realized there are certain people who I’ve shot who I really have a good relationship with. So I did chapters for five people who I’ve shot a lot or had a connection with—Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Lupita Nyong’o, Jennifer Aniston, and then the Royals.
With who you’ve just named, which is just a few, and now releasing your third book, you’re clearly an established photographer. Do you still try to learn new techniques or are you in a stage where it’s more about creating with new talent?
It’s funny because I feel like the concept of photography has become so diluted now. I’m 47, so I remember when I was an assistant, we used to run every month to get Vogue Italia, to see what has Steven Meisel done. You would pore over these pages, the quality, the production value, the textures in the background. But now this is our canvas and it’s tiny. Budgets have gone down obviously, but the idea of quality [also], because people aren’t looking at it as a whole story. They’re looking at single images and their fingers are twitching to go to the next one. So on the one hand, images have become a lot more throwaway, whereas we used to create characters.
You’d have a celebrity and we’d say, [for example], “Today, we’re going to make you Sophia Loren from this particular movie.” Nowadays, you rarely see a story in its entirety because, unless you buy the magazine, you see one image at a time. So for me, every day is a puzzle anyway, because you can’t just do the same old thing because every person is different. You have to figure out what’s the key to this person, and how can I get one authentic moment that nobody else could get.
Would you say that your photos have a signature?
I ask people, “If I was to ask you what is my style of photography? [What would you say].” Some have said relatable elegance. For example, one of my greatest compliments is when a celebrity will call me after a shoot or even look at it on the screen and they’ll be like, “That’s me but that’s me looking amazing.” I want people to look their best version of themselves, which is why when I’m taking pictures, I’m chatting and trying to figure out who they need me to be for that day. I always try and give myself a five-minute limit with them in the hair and makeup room to get to know them if I haven’t met them before and in that five minutes, I talk to them, I ask them pretty mundane questions. It’s not just their answer that will feed me information, it’s also how they talk to me. Will they look me in the eye? Are they tired? Are they feeling insecure? Have they broken up with a boyfriend or girlfriend?
Then I’ll go on set and become that person they need. For example, if they just had a baby, I’ll be talking about changing diapers all day long and feeding schedules. If you’ve just broken up with a girlfriend or a boyfriend, I’ll be talking about new beginnings and investing in yourself. So they see that I’ve listened and I’m not just somebody with a camera. When that trust is born, they stop overthinking and then you get these authentic moments of laughter or movement or just relaxing.
How do you collaborate on set? Is it more directed and stylized or more natural?
It is definitely what I said before, but also depends on what you’re shooting. For example, if we as the client or the magazine say, “We need to portray this kind of vibe because of the movie that’s coming out,” then we have to keep that in the back of our heads. I’ve got all these visual references of whatever your character’s built upon and then I try and give them storylines. For example, there’s a story, a written piece in the Kate Winslet chapter, about how I used to come on set with a backstory about who this character was that we are portraying. I never used to tell them because I thought it was my [personal] reference, but for some particular reason that day I told Kate Winslet and said, “You are in Paris, you’re a married woman, but you’re having an affair. Every Wednesday afternoon you meet your lover in this apartment and today he hasn’t turned up, you’re pacing the apartment and thinking, ‘Has he been found out? Has something happened to him?’ You’re just about to leave and all of a sudden hear footsteps coming upstairs. That’s what I want you to be.” Then she was like, “I got it,” and she started looking over her shoulder. Every inch of her was an acting tool and giving emotion.
Did you do something similar for Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and the engagement and wedding photos? Did they get a story or what was that preparation like?
I went in there with so many references because there are so many rules and regulations about royal engagement photography. It’s like you have to show the ring. You can’t be kissing. It has to be formal, elegant, all these things. So trying to operate within these boundaries. When I went to see them, I found every single royal engagement picture throughout history since the first one. And I was showing them the pictures and it was funny because Harry was going, “Oh look, there’s great uncle so-and-so … I’ve never seen these pictures.” And as we are talking I’m looking at them, and when one of them talks, the other one would look and there would be this glisten in their eyes. It was like when you’ve been in a relationship for a month and you are just giddy and you look at each other.
Suddenly I stopped talking about the pictures and I was like, “Forget all this. You guys are so adorable together. If I can just follow you around for the day and capture this, that’s all I want,” and that’s what we did. Two weeks later we went back to Windsor Castle and Frogmore House, and the first picture on any shoot is always a bit trying to find our rhythm. But after that, it was easy peasy because they were so in love and it was just a joy to take pictures of them.
The Sittings (2003-2023) will be released in the U.S. on May 31, with all proceeds benefiting the humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide.
