Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar, 2026
I have had the Avenue of Baobabs in Madagascar in my head for some time; I just didn’t really know what to do with it creatively. There are no prizes for just going there - after all, it is simply an investment of time and energy and then a transaction with an airline company. The story needed a focus, rather than just a simple love affair with an awesome location. All these primeval upside-down trees gave me was a background canvas - albeit one that visually transcends as the sun rises and sets. The overwhelming majority of visitors who make it to Madagascar come to this location; it is as tight a name pairing as Madison Avenue is to New York.
My leaning was to play on the word “Avenue” and bring a little bit of Madison Avenue to these castles in the sky. There can be no greater contrast between two acclaimed avenues in the world, after all, Madagascar is a basic agricultural economy where time has stood still. There are no advertising agencies, no luxury watch brands, no “Uptown Girls,” and, to the best of my knowledge, no Billy Joel. There are just goat herders, minivans and big trucks on this avenue.
 I recognized that this concept would be a challenge from a production perspective as we would need to attain film permits, find an appropriate car and find an appropriate model. Morondava in Western Madagascar is a challenging place to get a good night’s sleep, never mind hire an Austin-Healey convertible.
But we are committed to our craft and as we always say, “there are few traffic jams along that extra mile”. The many component parts of the narrative started to fall into place and Josie Canseco - who can play a good Christie Brinkley - agreed to join us from LA. I knew her hair would be an important detail and Larry King - “hairdresser to the stars”​ - joined us from London.
But the real credit for this photograph goes to our wonderful fixer Hary Rason from the capital Antananarivo. Without the government and the police on side this would have been a bridge too far and she secured all that we needed. This is not an easy place to do something like this, which is why I guess it’s not been done before.
We would also like to thank the community of Morondava for their support in this project.