After 30 years in the industry, Markus remains the photographer all celebrities want to work with; he has collaborated with Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet, David Bowie and Iman, Kim Kardashian and many, many more.
You'll know his work even if you don't know it's by Markus, as he shot two of the the most famous album covers of all time, Dangerously in Love, and Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi, as well as Britney Spears' Onyx Tour pictures.
"When you work on these major productions with a big celebrity, there's a lot of people involved, and most of the time this is not a problem," Markus said of working with Britney in 2004, who at the time was not yet under the controversial conservatorship that marked 15 years of her life until 2023.
"So when Britney Spears entered my studio in 2004 she was accompanied by her dad and her manager Larry Rudolph and quite a large team – but everyone was sent off to play chess in a back room, and we really talked about her ideas.
"She had scribbled some notes on a napkin, some ideas she had for her tour – 'Enchanted Forest' and the 'Ice Princess,' keywords like that – and I showed her the ideas I had prepared and it became a wonderful moment where she channeled all of these personas for those pictures that have become iconic.
"We had a blast; she was very sexy and super smart. She understood exactly what I wanted from her and we worked until three o'clock in the morning and nobody interfered and it was just an incredibly fantastic time. She's a super bright and Incredibly talented artist… I've been recently talking to her team about doing a 20th anniversary thing with her, but I am still waiting to hear back."
Source: hellomagazine.com/fashion/514625/exclusive-markus-klinko-details-humble-beyonce-super-smart-britney-spears/
