Ewa-Mari Johansson’s intimate snap of Kate Moss The pioneering Swedish fashion photographer Ewa-Mari Johansson tells the story of the an intimate portrait she snapped of Kate Moss in the mid 90s, and shares her best tip for photographing supermodels. WORDS: ERIK SEDIN, PHOTOGRAPHY: EWA-MARI JOHANSSON

How did you end up in the same room as Kate Moss?

“During the 1990s, I often photographed backstage at designer and Haute Couture shows for big magazines, international and local Swedish ones alike. I initially started doing it for Italian fashion magazine Amica, but did it for many others too. For this very photograph, I photographed backstage for the resolved Swedish magazine Månadsjournalen, together with the wonderful journalist Lena Katarina Swanberg.

“I was in Paris in the summer of 1995 to photograph Karl Lagerfeld at his Haute Couture show for Chanel. It was backstage that I photographed Kate Moss, she was one of the runway models for the show. She was very nice.”

How did you get the opportunity to photograph supermodels such as Kate Moss in the first place? Did you also photograph Kate under more choreographed settings?

“I worked as a fashion photographer for more than thirty five years, and was based in Milano most of those years. I also worked in New York and Paris, so I photographed supermodels for magazine fashion shoots.”

“Unfortunately I never photographed Kate Moss under more choreographed settings.”

Do you remember what camera and film you had at the time?

“In those times I would use three camera brands; Hasselblad, Nikon and Canon. As this was more like a reportage gig I used either Nikon or Canon, as they are faster to work with. It was probably shot on Kodak Tri-X film.”

Do you and Kate Moss have any contact today, or have you met on any other occasion?

“I asked her permission to print a small edition of the portrait as fine art prints, and she said yes. She also said that she would like a print of her own aswell. I am very flattered that she liked my photograph and wanted a print of it.”

What would be your best tip for anyone that’s about to photograph a supermodel?

“Work in the same way as you always do.”