top of page
PORTRAIT
Tony Duran is a famous American photographer, known for his portraits of celebrities and his work on the nude, body-based photographs, sometimes masculine, sometimes feminine, sublimating aesthetics, favoring natural light and black and white. Tony quickly made a name for himself thanks to his photos of Jennifer Lopez, with whom he became friends and continued to collaborate. He will make her his first magazine covers, before being solicited by all the celebrities including Lindsay Lohan, Pamela Anderson, Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson or Jude Law. Her pictures evoke beauty, sensuality and strength, tinged with an iconic American vision, Hollywood stereotypes, fashion cliché bodies. Self-taught, Duran loves the nude to the point of causing scandal. Now based in California, he is constantly on the lookout for inspiration and creativity.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
How would one of your close friends define your style?
Many friends, very good friends, have been models and subjects of my photos, so I think they would say something like this: Tony's approach is purely organic, there is no apparent structure in this what he does. It comes from the heart, from the guts. At the very beginning of a session, there is a feeling of confusion, it's difficult, he expects something from the subjects, from the models themselves. Patient, he will wait for the emotion. But once the first action is over, everything is loose! Energy flows as much as ideas. Never seated, he is constantly in motion during a shoot. You have no idea what's going on, but you want to be part of it. The shoot usually ends in fatigue and confusion about what just happened. So we sit down and look at the pictures. The more you see, the more you will feel. An image that will last a lifetime.
A style ?
A storm of creativity and energy.
How did you start in photography?
I went to school in Wisconsin where I got a degree in journalism. We had to take photography lessons and strangely, after the first session I said to myself that I wanted to become a professional photographer. I was going to Conversation School with Tony Duran just for that subject and I started taking pictures. I have never been an assistant, or taken any other courses. I did it because it was fun to do.
Your beauty criteria?
Confidence is my criterion of beauty. If everyone is honest and confident in who they are, then nothing else matters, beauty can be found. No matter what my eye will look at, it will find it beautiful, or rather beauty comes out of it. Even unusual things. No matter the model, sex, gender, age… Confidence, ego, define every identity and every beauty, I just glorify and celebrate them through the lens!
To be a photographer is to be a voyeur?
It took me a while to realize it, but yes, to be a good photographer, you have to be a real voyeur. I'm 1m90, so it's hard for me to hide my presence, but my brain wanders like a fly on a wall, looking at the world, making my own vision of it, without interruption. There are two types of photographers, the one who picks up the camera to find an action, and the one who picks up the camera to watch the action. I think being a voyeur brings an intimacy and a quality of sensuality that I wouldn't have without it.
- Find the continuation of Tony Duran dansNormal Magazine n°7 -
bottom of page