Few musicians shaped their visual identity as carefully as David Bowie. From Ziggy Stardust to Aladdin Sane, his collaborations with photographers helped create some of the most iconic images in rock history.
So when six eminent photographers got together at the atmospheric Lightroom centre in London, England, to talk about their photos of Bowie to rock journalist Miranda Sawyer, it made for a fascinating event for fans and creators alike.
Richard Young, one of the most famous celebrity photographers alive, showed a photo of Bowie jokingly sparring with Beatles star Paul McCartney backstage at Live Aid in 1983, relaxed and jovial, but also a more vulnerable shot of Bowie playing the Elephant Man on stage in New York in 1980.
"And as you know, in most theaters around the world, especially in America, they do not like you taking a camera into the theater... you know you're going to be thrown out," explained Young. So he had to take the photo by stealth.
When Bowie found out later, he complained that Young should have told him he was there "and I would have done something special for you". But Young wanted to catch him unawares to get that intimate portrait.
Punk photographer Denis O'Regan was next, and talked entertainingly about going on tour with Bowie in order to compile a book of photos. He showcased a striking shot of the artist in front of the Berlin Wall, unaware that 18 months later the wall would be torn down.
He also told a story about Bowie chastizing him for throwing the photos he rejected away in the bins in his hotel rooms, from which hotel cleaners could collect them: "He'd built up all the evidence. So then I had to destroy them." O'Regan had to lug the rejected photos around in his suitcase.
Then we heard from a friend of Bowie's from school in Bromley, Geoff MacCormack, who was self-deprecating about his photographic skills but showed us my favourite photo of the night – a redhaired Bowie smoking in front of a loans shop in New Mexico, caught off-guard.
"What a beautiful shot that is," Sawyer enthused. "David was doing his job beautifully," McCormack said. "He was a kind of machine." He also shared a striking picture of the late Rebel Rebel singer asleep on a Trans Siberian Railway train after a hard night of drinking with Russian soldiers.
After a short interval, we heard from venerated rock photographer Kevin Cummins. The first time he shot Bowie, he said, "he was wearing this absolutely terrible Versace satin jacket", which was not how he'd imagined him. Sawyer asked for more detail on the jacket but Cummins couldn't oblige, though apologized to anyone in the audience who might be wearing a similar jacket.
However, in the rehearsal, Bowie took off the offending garment and Cummins managed to get a moody silhouetted picture of the star smoking.
Fashion photographer Tony McGee came next, showcasing three very similar yet unique studio shots, with Sawyer praising his "strong aesthetic".
McGee spoke about trying to get Bowie to stop drinking one night before an important shoot, imploring Bono and other stars for help with this, but all the musicians refused as they said they'd never seen Bowie so happy.
McGee apologized for name-dropping, and Sawyer reassured him that it was fine – that in anecdotes featuring Bowie, there were bound to be a ton of celebrities.
Last we heard from Chris Duffy, the photographer son of famous photographer Brian Duffy (styled as simply Duffy). The latter took the iconic and seminal photo of Bowie as Aladdin Sane, complete with painted flash down his face, which was used by hundreds of outlets to illustrate the news of Bowie's death in January 2016.
"I think that the connection between David and Duffy is very special," said his son. The resulting spectacular photos of that collaboration are certainly some of rock's most memorable.
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