Pre-Spice Girls Geri Halliwell dressed as sci-fi character Barbarella: Best photo of Solla Pietro | Photography

A A month or so after I got into music photography, a friend of mine who was a fashion designer called me to tell me she knew a girl who was going to be in this huge girl group. I was very skeptical — it’s the kind of claim you hear a lot while working as a photographer — but we ended up arranging to do the shoot at my house.

My friend choreographed the shoot, which was based on TV shows and movies from the 60s and 70s that we grew up watching, involving strong women fighting evil — things like Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels. This film is based on Jane Fonda’s character Barbarella in the 1960s sci-fi film, one of my favorites, with costumes designed by Paco Rabanne.

Most of the shots, including this one, were taken against a beautiful big white wall near my house. At the time, I was shooting film, of course, and I processed the E6 slide with chemicals intended for color negatives, which gave this over-saturated but grainy quality. I didn’t want the photos to look too “real”.

At the time, everyone I photographed was a collaboration between me and them – there were no PRs involved or wanting to see the photos once they were taken. I was often working with other people early in their careers, so we were trying to find our way together. The girl was Geri Halliwell and she was really lovely – we had a lot of laughs. At the end of the session, she saw these tarot cards on my table and asked me to predict her future. I’m glad fortune telling wasn’t a path I took, because I never expected anything. But she was laser focused all day, and you could really tell she was going somewhere. This was two years before she was famous – the Spice Girls’ song Wannabe wasn’t released until 1996.

I like to think you can see the Spice Girl evolution here. I think they used some of these concepts. Six of the images from the shoot are featured in my book Rewind, which showcases my 90s and 00s music photography. There are other photos I took of her that were never published – we did a few based on St Trinian’s, including a photo of Geri climbing out of a window.

Years later, I saw Geri holding one of my prints in a documentary, and when she shared this photo and others from the shoot on Instagram a few years ago, she reposted it and captioned it: “GIRL POWER 1994. I dreamed of being a pop star and working multiple jobs. Keep following your dreams, you never know where it will take you.” It’s good to know that some dreams come true.

Biography of Solla Pietro

child: Leeds, 1964
High point: My portrait of Mays Tayq has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum for its permanent collection. It is part of ‘Music is Black: A British Story’ at the new V&A East Museum. I am also proud to have been selected for the 2025 Taylor Wessing Prize and have my work displayed in the National Portrait Gallery.
Top tip: Always keep learning and experimenting. Keep up to date with lighting techniques and related software. Having experienced massive technological change, from film to digital, I would say, above all, be adaptable.