Up Close and Personal with Martin Schoeller

When award-winning portrait photographer Martin Schoeller was asked to photograph five of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people, we’re betting he had no idea he’d be dealing with fully grown tigers.

In this interview with Schoeller posted by TIME last week, he gives insight into the portraiture process, stressing the importance of conveying personality and alluding to the subjects’ area of influence when deciding on elements such as light and setting.

The TIME 100 lists the world’s most influential people, categorised into Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers, Scientists & Thinkers, and Heroes & Icons. This year, Schoeller photographed such icons as Oprah Winfrey, comedian Amy Poehler, author Amy Chua, Wael Ghonim– the Egyptian activist and Google employee who helped lead the revolution in Cairo– and chef Grant Achatz.

Schoeller cites the early work of Bernd and Hilla Becher as a major influence, believing it was their typological photo series that pushed him towards portraiture. His previous subjects include Barack Obama, Angelina Jolie, Jack Nicholson and fellow photographer Cindy Sherman.

You can check out some more of Martin Schoeller’s work here.

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