Dario Argento has inspired me for 30 years. Visually, his works are a masterpiece of colour, composition and lighting. His tour-de-force technicality in visceral movie making is legendary and he is a known influence on his good friends Quinten Tarantino, John Carpenter and many more. He’s not referred to as “The Italian Hitchcock” for no reason!

I was having dinner with him while we flipped through my portfolio. I will never forget the moment when this master of visuals sat back, looked at my work and simply said “Bellissimo!” with no hesitation. Magical.

Next day we were shooting! Dario doesn’t do photo-shoots like this. Not ever. We went deep into an industrial steel complex, lit the scene and began shooting. It was an instant synergy. Having the maestro himself as my subject, I put him into a giallo film noir! We’d discussed film noir the night before, and it seemed only fitting given the over sized trench coat he was wearing and the massive space we were in to bring out that look.

Dario Argento, Shot by Martin Brown, The Barefoot Photographer

I have many more to come from this shoot. I will see Dario again in August for the launch of his auto-biography and be doing the photography to cover the event. I will take a print in of this image for Dario to sign as a one off, signed by myself and Dario as a true collector’s piece.

Until August for more work with the Maestro!

Martin