Tom Courcey enjoyed a visit from fashion photoeditor Mike Trow.
The picture editor of British Vogue, Mike Trow, came to the University of East London recently to talk about his career in the fashion magazine business.
Mike arrived late because his push bike got punctured on the way. He walked in, waved to the waiting hordes, opened up his laptop and got on with the gig. He began by talking about a photo he took in Tokyo of all Vogue’s editors from around the world, with Anna Wintour given pride of place because she is ‘the Queen of all Vogue editors’. Anna was also given picture approval – the opportunity to approve Mike’s picture, or make it disappear if she disapproved. She is Vogue’s reigning monarch, after all.
As British Vogue’s photo editor, Mike oversees all layouts and shoots – ‘I ride around on my bicycle searching for the perfect location, and I could be an hour or a month trying to find it’. He also calls the shots on which pix need retouching in order to ‘make people thinner’. But he himself is under a lot of pressure. ‘Every shot at Vogue could be your last’, he warned. Losing his touch would mean losing job.
Photo-shoots do not always run smoothly, and some of the photographers that Vogue uses, can be difficult to get along with; though Mike stated flatly that he will not ‘work with anyone who is a dick’. On the other hand, some stars are ‘so much fun’ to work with because they are ‘a great laugh.’ Mike mentioned Jennifer Saunders in this context. He had just been working with her on a shoot for the new Spice Girls musical. Other big names recently appearing in front of Mike’s camera included Olympian Jessica Ennis and film actor Gary Oldman, the new face of Prada Menswear.
Mike explained that he has never freelanced, meaning that he has never taken a picture and tried to sell it to anyone; he has always had a salaried position. When his previous title, Jack, closed down and he was looking for a job, a contact at magazine publishers Conde Nast put him in touch with British Vogue. After a two-week trial, he landed a permanent job there (as much as any media job is permanent nowadays).
Mike made it all sound relatively easy; as if he hadn’t had to try Trow hard.