On the rare occasions that I am given an actual brief for a portrait shoot, it’s usually fairly vague, perhaps detailing lighting style, backgrounds, crop etc and is more of a wish list of things to try and do if the situation allows. When I photographed Dr Astrid Fontaine, at the time one of the board members at Bentley, there was no such vagueness and her request was typically precise, “I want pictures like the ones Mario Testino did of Diana”. In her office, at the Bentley works, in Crewe - no pressure there then. Fortunately for me, it was rather less difficult than it might have been with almost anyone else in that position and I think we both got away with it…