Martin Schoeller

Lyle Lovett, 2004 When asked to photograph Lyle Lovett for @NewYorker , I was thrilled. Researching him revealed so many great visual options. He often wears a super chic Prada suit with a cowboy hat and boots, rides motorcycles, owns a Texas ranch, and even competes in reining competitions. Unfortunately, the shoot had to happen in Salt Lake City where he was performing. I didn’t want to shoot at the venue—given his adventurous life, that felt boring. I rented a motorcycle and scouted the Great Salt Lake area. It’s highly picturesque with all-white salt deposits from the receding lake, but it was a „one-idea“ location. I also sourced a Prada suit for the shoot, as Lyle understandably didn’t want to get his own dirty. We met pretty much in the middle of nowhere. When Lyle arrived, he shook hands with every single person on set. I knew then we were off to a good start. He looked incredible on the motorcycle and even jumped it a few feet off the ground. While I thought the magazine would love it, they were disappointed. The writer had envisioned a cowboy themed image, more country music related. After some back-and-forth, Lyle kindly invited me to his private Texas ranch. When we arrived, he couldn’t have been nicer, though I sensed he wasn’t entirely comfortable being photographed that day. He is very private and likes to keep his personal life out of the spotlight. The light was harsh, and horses are difficult to work with and tricky to shoot. The pictures turned out fine, but not great. Still, @NewYorker was pleased; he was in a cowboy hat and boots on a horse, fitting the country star image. A few days later, during Thanksgiving at my in-laws‘, an idea struck me: Lyle in his signature suit, dirty, roping a calf. The issue was printing in days. I hesitated, then called him on Thanksgiving Day. He immediately agreed. After that third shoot, he was so impressed by the dedication that he asked me to direct a music video for him. His agent was confused why he picked a photographer who had never done one, but Lyle insisted. We had an amazing time and have been friends ever since. @lyle_lovett @natashalunnwatkins @jasonfoto_ @elisabethbiondi

Elon Musk, 2009 Reading about Musk's projects in 2009 sounded almost fantastical. Bringing the electric car back alone seemed impossible to pull off given the incredibly powerful automotive and oil industries as fierce opponents. I thought of him like a mad scientist, a child at heart that likes to dream big. We were able to scout the location the day before and when we were shown around Space X facilities, Tesla almost seemed like an afterthought. Towards the end of our scout, after seeing rocket parts and high end machinery that looked like a movie set, there was a clay model and a few other car related items. I realized building cars is easier than building reusable rockets and a starship. In the car industry, clay cars are often built to get a sense of the final design in a full size model while being able to make changes by reshaping the clay. I asked his assistant if it would be possible for Elon’s 5 kids, twins and triplets at the time, to meet us the next day for a picture. Ed Murphy bought clay at Home Depot and started building little toy clay cars.

April Bloomfield, 2010 When researching Chef Bloomfield, I thought of her as a character in an Old Masters painting. Maybe because one of her restaurants, The Breslin, was famous for serving a whole roasted suckling pig, among other hearty dishes (my favorite was the lamb burger, absolutely amazing). I came across many beautiful still-life paintings featuring vegetables, fish, rabbits, guinea fowl… I asked her if she could bring some of the ingredients she liked to cook with. She walked into the studio pulling two humongous coolers on wheels. I have only seen coolers that big on fishing boats. The prop stylist, Michael Bednark, had built this gorgeous set and brought some vegetables, but great chefs have sources to find the freshest and most perfect ingredients. To make sure the image didn’t end up looking digitally-altered I decided to show her body underneath the table. Her commitment to getting a great picture made me like her instantly. Her dedication to perfection in the kitchen was just incredible to witness. We worked together many more times and are still friends today

Aziz Ansari, 2010-2017 I love taking pictures that make people smile or even better laugh. But funny images are the hardest to pull off. It’s a very thin line between witty/ whimsical and cheesy/ goofy. It helps having a great collaborator such as Aziz. I love his sense of humor and his expressions are always hilarious. These pictures were taken on assignment for The New Yorker, New York Magazine,Time, and BLT/Netflix.

Jon Stewart, 2002 I had initially thought about photographing Jon on the set of The Daily Show. But TV studios are never very personal and the set was so well-known, there wouldn’t be anything surprising about it. When I heard that he was in love with his rescue dogs and walked them multiple times a day, I thought it could be funny to have the dogs all tangled up in their leashes while he was busy picking up after them. Jon liked the idea of being photographed with his dogs and played along, but after almost an hour, I gave up on the concept; it just wasn’t funny. I guess poop is just gross. Toilet humor can be very funny, but it’s not very fun to look at, even the fake plastic kind. Around the corner from his house was a hotdog stand. I picked his toughest-looking dog out of the three and we walked over. I love his dead-pan expression and wet streets always look great, it took quite a few hot dogs to get this picture.

Lady Gaga, 2009, Los Angeles. I was supposed to have three hours time with Lady Gaga and was optimistic when she showed up on time. Unfortunately , hair, make up and styling took two hours and forty minutes. I was left with twenty minutes to photograph. Happy, I still got two images I like.

Geoffrey Rush, 2009 Some assignments are easier than others. Geoffrey was wearing this amazing costume and make up for his performance in Exit the King, no concepts or locations, all I had to do was take his picture.

Steve Buscemi, 2005 It was winter in New York and Steve lived close to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I asked him to meet me in a barber shop in his neighborhood. Getting a shave with an old fashioned blade seemed like a good fit for an actor who has played so many oddball characters in countless independent films. My second idea was to photograph him walking in the snow. Ever since watching Fargo, it seemed obvious. I rented a snow machine, which actually doesn’t make snow, rather creates and blows little puffy foam flakes that from a distance look like snow. It was bitter cold in Prospect Park and Steve was getting cold quickly. Just when I was about to let him go it really started to snow, we turned off the machine and I took this picture.

Lennox Lewis, 2002 One of the best boxers of all time. He knocked out Mike Tyson, beat Vitali Klitschko, Evander Holyfield and many others. Retired as the reigning heavyweight champion. A fierce fighter and a soft spoken gentleman in person.

Valentino, 2005 Most Italian designers live and work in Milan, Valentino is one of the few based in Rome. During the planning of this assignment one of his assistants mentioned that the colosseum is an option as a location. I was of course very excited, nothing signifies Rome more, and what an amazing historical stage for one of the greatest designers of all time. When we got off the plane we went straight to the colossuem to look around. I planned it all out in my head, looking at the weather forecast, the light and the stream of tourist that I wanted to avoid. I took dozens of polaroids and when we were leaving many hours later our contact said : Great, we don’t allow photoshoots here but for Mr. Valentino we will make an exception. How will you take care of the thirty thousand euro fee? I was crushed, nobody had mentioned any payments up to this point. I assumed Valentino is so well connected in Rome that the director of the Colosseum will just open his doors for him, for free. I was wrong. There was no way David Remnick ( the editor of TNY) would ever agree to spend that much money on a location, I didn’t even need to call. Vanity Fair or Vogue, maybe, back in the days when they had money, but not The New Yorker. I ended up photographing him on a public staircase surrounded by models and in his office. Elisabeth Biondi and David Remnick picked this Close Up for the magazine. Valentino called David and was furious, he hated it, it is one of my favorites.

Lea Delaria, 2000 Lea and I met for brunch to brainstorm for this shoot. We had probably to many mimosas and came up with this idea. I can’t believe it’s 25 years ago. Happy Holidays.

Royal Shakespeare Company, 2011 The Royal Shakespeare Company was performing at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. I loved the colorful historical costumes and the stuffy old fashioned language, the contrast between New York today and England almost five hundred years ago couldn’t be greater. Trying to illustrate the contrast I thought about something very NY and hired a hot dog stand owner. While towing his stand to the Armory he got into a fender bender and was stuck a few blocks away. My assistants ran to the scene of the accident and were able to push the stand down the street to our location, but we had lost our hot dog vendor talent. That day, my son Niklas Haze was one of my assistants (a fashion photographer now), stepped in and looked very convincing in his new role.