Manhattan Ambition

New Zealand fashion photographer Regan Cameron who is based in New York, has shot some of the world’s biggest celebrities including Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, Madonna, Kate Moss and Cameron Diaz; this month he’s working on the next Victoria’s Secret campaign. As a teen growing up in Auckland, Cameron didn’t have New York in his sights, nor fashion. But he did have a strong ambition. He is hugely grateful to the late, great New Zealand photojournalist Brian Brake. “I was this sponge and sponged up a whole lot of stuff because of Brian,” Cameron says. “I owe everything I have to people like him.” The moment when Cameron really knew he’d made it, was when he shot Madonna for InStyle magazine in 2001. She liked one of his images so much she used it on her tour posters. “To me you couldn’t get anyone more famous. The Pope maybe. You lifted up the camera, and suddenly they’re in your camera and it’s quite odd.”