Pierrette Trichet, Remy Martin’s first female cellar master by Alan Lim

Early this month I was commissioned by Remy Cointreau to photograph a very lovely french woman, Pierrette Trichet. That was an interesting experience for me, not because Madam Trichet is a woman, also not because she is french, but because she is Remy Martin’s first female cellar master. How many cellar masters are there in the world who are women? I know there is only one, at least a well known one.

As a Professional Photographer I have been photographing people for a very long time, and because of that a fair chunk of my people and observation skills were probably developed from there. Whether I’m directing or capturing a natural state of the person’s behavior, as a photographer I’m looking at the person through the viewfinder of my camera, that’s a great advantage, because you are observing the person in great details and up close without feeling awkward, without the camera it would be simply plain rude to do so.

For that two days at the Marina Bay Sands, I had spent about a total of four hours looking at her behind my camera through the viewfinder, but I believe she probably only saw me(without camera on my face) less than 10 minutes in total. That’s also probably the reason why some people I have photographed said I looked different when they met me again.

It was such a delightful pleasure for me to photograph Pierrette. Through my observation, she has such a sincere and faithful looks in her eyes, with and without looking through the viewfinder.

Alan Lim,

ELEVEN | Singapore Photographer