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In your book, you describe how you got involved with Jeff Buckley. For our readers who haven't had a chance to hear that, could you recount the story? Initially I met Jeff on photo assignment for Paper, a New York based magazine. The editor there is David Herskovitz. We had often talked about music and he told me about Jeff, whose music he thought I would like. At the first shoot I did of Jeff, I went to his apartment and we photographed there, in his hallway and on the roof. He was very precocious. He liked to play and was willing to experiment from the outset. His moods and expressions changed dramatically from moment to moment, making him a wonderful subject. I knew, even before hearing his music that he was a good artist. It seemed obvious. What inspired you to start on a book of all the photos you'd taken of Jeff Buckley? A year after Jeff died, I started feeling like I really had to do something with the work we did together. I had drawers full of prints. I bought a Macintosh computer, a scanner and the program called Quark and started laying out the book. It was a way to work through the sadness of losing him. I needed to create a memorial for him with the gift he gave me; the work we'd done together. Jeff gave you your start as an album cover photographer. Are there any little-known photographers you'd like to give some recognition to? One of my very favorite photographers is Josef Koudelka. His work is pure poetry. He is not unknown though, he has some beautiful books published: one called Exiles and another called Chaos. Really gorgeous. I am friends with many excellent photographers here in New York. My friend Andreas Rentsch takes very beautiful abstract portraits in the desert. Anne McDonald [does] beautiful, dreamlike self portraits. My good friend Meredith Davenport is a photo journalist who this year won some big awards and went to Sudan working a job covering the Nuba tribe for National Geographic. Why did you choose photography as your means of creative expression? When I was fifteen I started modeling for the Elite Model Agency here in NYC. Modeling itself was against my nature , but it did expose me to photography and I was able to see photographers at work. Being exposed to photography in combination with having a great art teacher in high school, painter Narciso Maisterra, stimulated my imagination and allowed me to go to art school and become an artist. What other projects can be expect to be seeing from you soon? I just photographed a woman named Anna Netrebko this week. She is a Russian opera star. She sings with Pavarotti . The photographs are for an album cover of her singing Arias of different opera heroines. It is so thrilling to work with amazing artists from a variety of diciplines. This week I am inspired to learn more about opera. What's the most compelling thing about photographing musicians? Even though what I do is visual, there is a kind of weird crossover with what I do and music. Some kind of common language. I find it easier to communicate with other artists because they, like myself, usually create their own little planet they live on and are devoted to. It is a planet that takes a certain type of discipline to live on because you make up the rules yourself and you must be true to that world you create. The value system is a little different than the rules 9-5 er's adhere to. Does that make sense? Do you choose your subjects or do they seek you out? People who are attracted to my work find me and vice versa. I believe if you trust in the Universe you naturally find where and who you are supposed to be with. I have a lot of faith in this idea. When things aren't working out right it is because I am resisting somehow. You've had photography featured to accompany stories in magazines as big as Rolling Stone. What do you feel makes up a good photograph? What makes a photo interesting to me is the expression of energy. It's the alchemy of that moment, caught in the net of a certain shutter click. How did you choose the photos of Jeff for the book? I chose them with love. |
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