Making It Official

Johannes Huebl was discovered at eighteen in Hannover. A few years later he’s working for Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, the luxury brands. One day you’re a kid in a German city, the next you’re a model in international campaigns. The fashion industry doesn’t groom people so much as it claims them—someone sees potential, and that’s enough. The rest just follows.

Mario Testino wanted to photograph Johannes at his breakthrough moment. The location was Sölden, Austria, a ski resort with a glass building at the summit looking out over the Ötztal. There’s probably a lot of light up there, which is the only thing that really matters to a photographer. Testino’s been thinking about Slim Aarons, the mid-century photographer who captured the wealthy in their intimate moments. Aarons made those moments feel real because they probably were, or at least felt like it. Testino’s adapted that approach for a project called On Arrival, which documents people at the edge of their breakthrough.

There’s something circular about photographing a breakthrough. You don’t capture it—you create it. Once someone like Testino photographs you at the right location with the right light, the moment becomes official. The industry has confirmed it. The photograph makes the breakthrough real, or real enough that it doesn’t matter. Johannes Huebl probably feels different after seeing himself documented by a famous photographer in a mountain building. Or maybe the transformation was already complete, and this is just the image of completion.

I don’t know what Testino’s photographs actually look like. I’m imagining clean lines, that perfect light, Johannes looking somewhere off-frame. The kind of image that belongs in a magazine and says: this person has arrived. Whether he feels like he’s arrived is secondary. The photograph is the proof.