Behind the Painted Veil: A Chat with Felix Mondino

When we fantasize about the fashion industry, our imaginations go straight the glamorous photo shoots — the El Dorados of beauty. But for someone like Felix Mondino, a photography agent and photo shoot producer at Iconoclast, the view from behind the scenes looks quite different. 

I recently sat down with the 27-year-old Mondino, son of French photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, to chat about what it is really like working all over the world on a year-round schedule.

“You know, I travel a lot and weirdly people think that it so cool and glamorous, but it is really not,” he said. When readers open the pages of their favorite magazines, they are transported into a world of luxury, but the atmosphere on set is not the same. It is true that photo shoots create an environment where creativity and self expression thrive, but there is still a lot of work that is put into them. Many tend to forget about this when looking at the final product in the magazines.

As both agent and producer, Mondino wears two caps. He must place priority on the photographer’s needs, making sure that his or her vision is respected, while ensuring that the budget is managed carefully. With the pressure to answer to clients’ needs as well as creating something original, the process to get one good picture takes a long time —many photo shoots stretch longer than five hours. And that estimate does not take into account preparation. 

Much of the success of a shoot depends on team dynamic, between the photographers, stylists, lighting crew and production assistants. The biggest secret he confessed to me is to have an amazing technician on board. “We can never predict if something bad would happen,” he said, “but being surrounded by a good team helps to prevent any inconvenience.”