Marc Hom Reveals How to Take a Perfect Portrait
We sat down with celebrated photographer, Marc Hom to discuss his exhibition “Re-Framed” (which includes portraits of Angelina Jolie, Samuel L. Jackson, and many others shot for Esquire), now showing at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Esquire: I had the pleasure of being at the opening of your exhibition “Re-Framed” and I was, to put it mildly, completely blown away. I, like most people, are accustomed to images placed at eye-level, typically just one after the other inside a gallery or museum. It was refreshing, on a beautiful day to be outside by the water, amongst these beautiful gigantic revolving frames.
Marc Hom: When I got invited in 2020 by Chris Rossi, the head of exhibitions up there, I went to see the room that I was going to exhibit in. It was a beautiful room—typical, very beautiful gallery space, beautiful light, everything was great in there, but I walked out of there thinking, “OK this is my first museum show, is this really what I want to do?”
One day, I was driving up to Cooperstown and stopped at Storm King sculpture park, and said, “We really need to get nature into this.” The field behind the Feinmore faces a big lake and they had never used it for anything—which is really mind blowing—so this was a whole new thing for them, also. I was very fortunate to work with a lot of amazing people and some really great craftsmen. We ended up making a “dummy” exactly the way I wanted at 9x12 feet, going through several printing processes to really reach that quality I wanted to achieve.
Then of course, I came up with the idea that I wanted the pictures to turn in the wind because I thought the juxtaposition between the static feeling of the inside exhibition worked well with the outdoor one. At the same time, I called my publisher who is in Germany and asked, “Hey I’m doing this project, would you be interested in doing a book about it?”
Esquire: When did you know that photography was the medium for you?
MH: My father was a photographer and a filmmaker. He opened the first art cinema in Copenhagen in 1982 so I was always exposed to a lot. I decided early on—when I was 17—that I was going to photography school in Denmark and then came to New York when I was 22. I was very lucky to meet people early on like Elena Tschernischova, who took me to Vienna to do a book about ballet there—that really was the start of everything for me. It was a bit different than model tests and trying to approach fashion magazines—people have always been my interest you know?
So then, in New York I was very lucky to run into Fabien Barron and Liz Tilberis when she took over Harper’s Bazaar in 1992, and we were just this young group of people like me—Mario Sorrenti, David Sims—working with her for four-to-five years. So yeah, after I started, I just kept going and going and that's how all of this happened. I still don’t think I’ve done my best photograph yet so I'm excited about taking more.
Esquire: I’ve always thought of you as a portrait photographer, regardless of the type of assignment. You have the instinct for when that person is truly showing their best. Are there best circumstances that render the best results for you?
MH: I’ve never really been a photographer that has interest in adding a shock-value or trick in my photos. I can create an image within my frame and lighting and make my angles sharp. Of course, I need to be 120% happy with my photograph, but also my subject needs to be happy as well. We’re both investing time into creating this thing, so it’s super important that it’s worth our time at the end of the day.
Esquire: It’s like a symbiotic kind of relationship between you and your subject.
MH: Yeah, I mean it really is trust more than anything. You can’t get these photos of someone who really doesn’t want to be photographed. It's a barrier that you must break down early. You must deal with different things—sometimes from people you’ve never met, you know? The subject isn’t in a good mood, or are they? The first ten-to-fifteen minutes of the shoot you must think, “I am here to take your picture, you are here to be in front of the camera, let's try to make something magical.” It doesn't always work out, as we both know, but most of the time it does.
When I was younger, I used to draw every picture before going to the studio and get mad when the result doesn’t look exactly the same. But when you go through the motions for a while and have more knowledge and experience, you understand that the pre-thought may not always result in the best picture.
Esquire: Tell me about choosing which photographs were featured in the show.
MH: You know, when I was editing for the show I was thinking, “these are all iconic people but when do you become an icon? Is there anybody that’s younger than me, in their 20s or 30s that I think will become iconic that I really admire?” So, we reached out to Miley Cyrus, which was an amazing thing and she totally loved it. She jumped on a plane the next week and came to New York, and we shot for a couple hours in the studio.
Esquire: You photographed Miley Cyrus specifically for this exhibition?
MH: Yeah! We invited ten people and they all said yes. There was Coco Gauff, Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, amongst others. I wanted to do new photographs for this show.
Esquire: We’ve made a bunch of pictures for Esquire over the years, some of them I was so happy and proud to see exhibited in this show. Who were some of your favorite subjects shot for Esquire over the years?
MH: Obviously there've been a lot of men, right.
Esquire: A couple of women, too!
MH: Yeah, like Angeline Jolie, I love that picture. Willem Dafoe is one of my favorite subjects. He is a man that shows up and delivers 150% right? I mean he wanted to be there. I think we did eight pictures in 2 1/2 hours or something?!
Esquire: And Willem came by himself I remember. There was no PR, not anybody, he just showed up by himself and said, “What are we doing?”, and got to work! Wasn’t there a moment where we gave him a concept… and I don't remember if it was you that suggested he take on a villain character?
MH: Yeah! And then we were like,” Okay! Let's forget about that, let's just do you. Also, remember when we did that picture of Sam Jackson? That's still one of my favorite pictures. It's so funny because I had a dream that night, waking up in L.A. and I don't know if you remember, but I was like, “I want to take a picture of him shaving his head!” We talked about it.
Esquire: Yeah, first thing in the morning.
MH: And he’s intense right? Let's be honest, he’s intense. He walks in with about 20 people. You feel like you're an ant next to him. And he starts looking through the pictures and he says, “Okay, I like it, I like it, what are we doing?” I was trying to get this image out of my head. Thinking, is that a picture you do first? Is that something you do in the middle? Is that something you do in the end when the energy is gone? But, as you know, we went for it right away. We just took him and put him up in this small bathroom; it's really kind of this claustrophobic little, little room. I remember my assistant, Christian, was there and we just had one light and closed the door. I don’t even think you were in there.
Esquire: No! I was outside, listening.
MH: I’m sure you were shaking in your pants downstairs. And, of course, two minutes after you hear knocking and the publicist is screaming and going, “This is not what we were going to do.” Then I saw Sam, he just winked at me, and I was like, “Okay, we're good for a little bit.”
You always end up asking, “why does the picture look like that?” And it's because of the story before and after.
Esquire: Are there any dream subjects that you’ve never photographed?
MH: So, so many. I’d like to photograph some more athletes. I think the determination of what they do, and how they get there and their focus, concentration, devotion—I think that could be really interesting. And, politics, right? I mean we're in a place right now where everything is so crazy. So, it’d be interesting to kind of get a little closer to that. Not necessarily Republicans, but you know…
I’ve also just started taking pictures with my Leica again, my film camera. Which is fun. Just walking around taking pictures—
Esquire: From the hip?
MH: Yeah, from the hip [laughs].
You Might Also Like
