Go With The Flow

$200,000. When you have a client paying that kind of dough, he or she can basically make any request. Nothing illegal, of course, but if a celebrity decides he or she wants to have a party on the set of a photo shoot for, say, a new album cover—well, that's part of the gig. Markus Klinko and Indrani understand that, and if it happens, they just go with the flow.

There are a number of things to think about when you photograph high-profile people. Along with talent come publicists, managers, agents and sometimes an entourage of friends and wanna-be friends—a lot of "cooks in the kitchen," so to speak.

"A few years back, we seemed to have more of those kind of shoots," Markus comments. "Usher brought like 60 people with him, and we went until five in the morning. It was a little hectic, and we didn"t accomplish everything we wanted to, but you just have to relax into it—it's their shoot, and they're paying for it, and a lot of times, it turns out to be really fun."

"Yeah," Indrani says. "Interestingly enough, we had a shoot with Destiny's Child for Pepsi. Destiny's Child didn't bring anyone, but Pepsi had like 50 people—children, family members—it was funny. We ended up taking a lot of pictures for them with family members and the members of the group, but it's what you do. The company is paying for it, and it's part of the job sometimes. "David Bowie called us out of the blue," adds Indrani, commenting on how she and Markus started to segue their successful fashion photography business into one that included A-list celebrities. "He said he had been watching our career for a few years and wanted to work with us on his new album, Heathen."

The duo had 25 looks to accomplish in one day with Bowie and spent hours with him talking about the concept prior to the shoot. Ideas flew back and forth—photo books and images created by classic photographers like Man Ray were brought into the research process—and eventually, a personal relationship took hold between the three. It was this initial collaborative effort with Bowie that would lead the photo duo to develop what Indrani calls a productive visual exploration with the people they photograph, which these days consists of numerous top celebrity actors and musicians—and their roster keeps growing.

Stars also often bring their preferred hair and makeup artist to the set, "which is fine with us," says Indrani. "We like to work with GK Reid, but when a celebrity brings in their own people, we know they're top notch in the industry, so we're never nervous about anyone's ability."

"Plus," adds Markus, "why would we want to interfere with their own successful chemistry? It only helps us in the end. If they're happy with their own people, then they already start the shoot feeling comfortable."