Behind The Lens with six Bowie photographers

Lightroom in London hosted a series of short interviews with six well-known photographers who all worked closely with David Bowie, hosted by Miranda Sawyer and featuring Kevin Cummins, Geoff McCormack, Richard Young, Denis O’Regan, Chris Duffy and Tony McGee.

Lightroom takes a break from the David Bowie: You Are Not Alone experience to bring a special night looking at three photos by each photographer, which include some of the most iconic photos taken of Bowie at pivotal moments, whether in his own career or in recent history. As we gaze at the huge images on the walls around us in stunning quality, we’re entertained with stories, anecdotes and insights around the photos and also their own relationships with the man himself.

First up is Richard Young, renowned celebrity and glitterati photographer who has been active since 1974.  His first is a rare black and white candid shot of Bowie in a rare theatrical performance, when he was in The Elephant Man in London in late 1980.

In between the photos, Young entertains us with anecdotes about his career, telling us “The only reason I got involved in the first place was the free food…”, and that he became the photographer who got asked to parties because they trusted him. One of the most daring things he did was gatecrash Richard Burton’s 50th party at the Dorchester. His advice?“ Always look like you belong – it’s important to become part of the establishment.”

His second photo was taken at the Imperial War Museum, where Bowie called him up and asked him to photograph him in front of some disturbing paintings of the war in Bosnia. He didn’t like the paintings being on view in the War Museum and he was so disgusted with them that he bought them – Young thinks he probably destroyed them after that. The final photo is a famous series of frames taken backstage at Live Aid in 1985 with Paul McCartney after he sneaked into the Bowie compound and found them sparring with each other.

The affable Denis O’Regan, official photographer to Bowie for many years, is up next, whose recent book we reviewed here: his first image is Bowie at the Berlin Wall in 1987, “no one realised it was going to come down 18 months later”. Bowie was there for his legendary Concert For Berlin, and O’Regan recalls how the fans on the Eastern side were singing along with the concert from behind the wall.

O’Regan’s second offering is his very natural candid shot of Bowie on a boat in Bangkok. He tells us “People didn’t realise how normal and sweet he was. He was exactly the opposite of arm’s length.”  His final shot is his stunning shot of Bowie’s audience at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 1983, where he clambered onto scaffolding to be able get the perfect crowd shot of a seemingly endless sea of bodies. As he says, “look, no mobile phones…”.

Geoff MacCormack, who from the off tells us he’s been known as “a c*nt with a camera”, had the closest relationship with Bowie of everyone on stage tonight: a personal friend, he was a backing singer on Aladdin Sane, was a Spider From Mars, went to school with him, and was Bowie’s body double “even though we looked nothing alike!”.

MacCormack’s first shot is an intimate portrait of Bowie sleeping off a hangover in their sleeper cabin on the Trans-Siberian Express after a night out with some fans and soldiers in Moscow. He shares that Bowie didn’t like flying. He toured with Bowie consistently between 1973-6.

He follows with candid photos of Bowie sitting outside a café, orange hair matching the neon “Loans” sign above, and then sitting on the floor immersed in writing song lyrics. When asked by Miranda Sawyer how he feels seeing these intimate photos from his personal moments with Bowie, MacCormack pauses, looks wistful and says quietly that he knew him from the age of 8. What he leaves unsaid is palpable. He ends with the thought “That thing where you think ‘I’ll do that next time’? There is no next time.”

Next it’s Kevin Cummins, whose book David Bowie: Mixing Memory And Desire came out a couple of years ago, with his insightful and amusing anecdotes. He tells the story of shooting Bowie at the Rollarena in Leeds; as a teenager at art school, he wanted to photograph him for himself. He went to the Free Trade Hall in Manchester with a camera to see if he could blag his way in – they waved him in thinking he was from the Manchester Evening News. He walked in and it was chaos – everyone rushed to the front and he had to fight for space. He’d never taken live pictures before, but felt he wasn’t in the right spot, and didn’t get the shot he wanted. So he went to the Leeds show, which was only 30% full, and stood where he thought he should be to get the exact shot.  It was his first live shot, and a few years later the V&A museum got in touch and bought it. The shot launched his career. His message:  “Don’t settle for the first shot you take, look for the second shot.”, adding, “If I hadn’t gone to Leeds, I wouldn’t be sitting here now. And there’s not a lot of people who can say that about Leeds!”

Cummins’ second image was taken at Factory Studios in Dublin, where Bowie was wearing a patterned satin blouson jacket. He tells us, “I’d had pictures of Bowie on my wall since 18, and was confronted with him in the worst clothes I’ve ever seen!” He took 18 rolls of photos trying to get a decent shot. Finally, he was invited to New York to Bowie’s 50^th, not realising it was going to be held in Madison Square Garden. He met Bowie and told him he was responsible for his career. Bowie replied “Kevin, I’m not even responsible for my own career.”

Fifth speaker Tony McGee, known for his Bowie cover image for Face magazine, tells us how his life has been a series of lucky events – with sisters in fashion, he was offered a job as a tea boy for Terry O’Neill.  From there he started a career in fashion photography. Bowie came to his studio for the Face photo shoot, knowing exactly the look he wanted. McGee’s first and third images are edits of photos from this shoot (personally, the original versions are better) while his second image tonight is a more relaxed photo of a laughing Bowie leaning against a table taken in Finsbury Square.

The final interviewee is Chris Duffy, son of the late Brian “Duffy” Duffy, prolific ‘60s/’70s photographer. The first image is of Bowie as Ziggy Stardust in his Freddie Burretti suit, effectively the moment his career took off. Chris Duffy talks about how Bowie was insecure about performing, so creating a persona gave him a vehicle, and how the photo captures Bowie’s love of pairing art and music. Duffy used a flashlight with tungsten on a long exposure to give the weird resonance and shimmer effect.

The second image is the Aladdin Sane cover – Chris Duffy comments that the eyes open version has become so common, people forget the eyes shut is the original. He comments that it’s the Mona Lisa of Pop, an extraordinary image of the time, where both Duffy and Bowie really understood the power of imagery, creating a record that would become an advertising vehicle. He adds that it was the most prevalent image of Bowie used by news outlets on his death.

Duffy’s third image is the final frame from the contact sheet from the Scary Monsters photo shoot in 1980, not long before he gave up photography. His son tells us “The connection between David and Duffy was special”, and that Bowie often came round for dinner, his bodyguard waiting outside in a white limo. He ends by sharing Duffy’s philosophy that “you need to burn your bridges to move forward”, drawing a correlation between Duffy trying to burn his negatives and Bowie killing off Ziggy.

All in all, a fascinating evening which manages to give us insights into the workings and talents of these six photographers and their thoughtfully-chosen images, whilst at the same time showing us their personal connections with Bowie, allowing us to glimpse intimate elements of his character and creativity through their eyes.

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Words by Naomi Dryden-Smith:  Louder Than War  | Facebook  |Twitter  | Instagram  | portfolio

Thanks to Outside Organisation and Alan Edwards for putting on the event.