Outback with…Joe Oppedisano
Our first interview for 2013 comes from from one of the most infamous photographers who has taken some of the hottest images known to mankind. Joe Oppedisano started off in fashion but is perhaps best known for his images of gay stars from Erik Rhodes and Buck Angel to shooting Channing Tatum before he was People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.
What made you want to get into photography?
I had no interest in it. I was a fashion editor/stylist, I was working with Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, Ricky Martin, whatever, lol. I was so consumed doing that, I didn’t realize I was working with legends, being taught what a real master is like to work with, what supermodels are really like out of make-up and how to deal with people who the world considered fabulous.
But it was really a shoot with Arthur Elgort for L’Uomo Vogue, a denim/fall story, and I suggested we recreate Tom of Finland drawings with Abercrombie & Fitch boys. He said ‘No’, well, I think he laughed and told me I was crazy. It made me want to shoot it even more, so I bought a camera and taught myself how to shoot. Then a year later, I shot that very story…
What made you want to get into photography?
I had no interest in it. I was a fashion editor/stylist, I was working with Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, Ricky Martin, whatever, lol. I was so consumed doing that, I didn’t realize I was working with legends, being taught what a real master is like to work with, what supermodels are really like out of make-up and how to deal with people who the world considered fabulous.
But it was really a shoot with Arthur Elgort for L’Uomo Vogue, a denim/fall story, and I suggested we recreate Tom of Finland drawings with Abercrombie & Fitch boys. He said ‘No’, well, I think he laughed and told me I was crazy. It made me want to shoot it even more, so I bought a camera and taught myself how to shoot. Then a year later, I shot that very story…