St Tropez

Brigitte Bardot enjoyed using her Albatross speedboat in St Tropez and we sensed that if we could source a vintage one, it would be a useful prop for this parody; it played emphatically to the era and the location. We did find one, but it had to come all the way from Goodwood in the UK. . . The buildings in La Ponche have a weathered timelessness that I knew would serve us well and then I just needed a composition to showcase a sense of place and a sense of a very specific woman. Nadine Leopold has a breezy nonchalance that made her ideal for the role and we both knew the head angles could offer some anonymity. I have worked with Nadine before and she is a delight. . . It is not easy to make someone look like someone else and to do it in a way that is nether cheap nor gratuitous. My leaning was to photograph her out of the boat as that would give us the most scope to build a wider narrative and even include some determined paparazzi on the shore.. . The aluminium structure of the boat’s hull threw off some useful reflections when facing the rising sun and as this detail started to show itself, I adapted my plans and Nadine’s position. It never pays to be too prescriptive. . . The goal was to take a picture with an unambiguous sense of place and sense of a specific era. This is St Tropez - the most idyllic and storied resort in the world and the place that Bardot called home.