I found myself back in the dark embrace of Providence KL again last week – to meet the celebrated photographer Mario Testino. Unfortunately though, he was absent due to his travels so all we got were lots of Macallan drinks and his gorgeous works to ogle at.

I have to say, his photographs are beyond amazing. It is up to par with all the works of talented photographers like Robert Capa and Annie Liebovitz. Testino's own famous photograph is of the iconic Princess Diana for her Vanity cover story in 1997. In some of his other images, I particularly enjoyed how his projection of celebrities and night scenes are so emotive. You actually feel like you're either part of it, or want to be part of it. I honestly wanted to just jump in and join the glamorous fun!

This collaboration brings six bottles of inspired whisky that brings together six different casks as a definitive representation of one of the Six Pillars. Each of these have its own definitive character, flavor and aroma. Accompanying them are Testino's shots, 6 of each which echoes each unique flavor visually.


There are only 1,000 of these limited edition sets, each comes with a different iconic shot, set in lacquer. These will be available worldwide at USD3,500 for a bottle of the single malt whisky and six miniatures.

Walking in, a wall full of his photos were set up at the entrance of Providence. This was probably where I spent the most time observing and photographing his photos, away from all the crowds, smokes and club lights. Here are some of my favorite shots as well.




The club was already in full swing by the time we walked in, and thankfully they have a nice seat reserved for us (hooray for not needing to stand around with the masses). The crowd was crazy and the club was packed to the brim. The servers managed to get a few glasses of Macallan on the rocks to us, with much difficulty I must say. I had a look at some of the miniature Macallan bottles that were on display, alongside his photographs.

Drinking like a boss on a Thursday night~

The night was hosted by DJ Patricia K, who will be also playing us a few tracks later on. We were first serenaded by the sultry sounds of a local singer who was the opening act of the night. I must say, I wasn't too comfortable with the crowds edging so close to our seats, and the amount of smoke I was inhaling. Call me old, but my smoking and wild party days are way behind me. These days, I can't even tolerate people smoking at the table.

We ended up perusing the ingenious Fotobox photobooth before fleeing the scene. I wished we had a chance to see Mario Testino himself, but for now, I'll just have to make do with his works.