All language subtitles for Icon.Music.Through.the.Lens.S01E01.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta_Subtitles01_Unnamed

When you're young, you're told
you have to have a job.

So I don't know,
I'll be a music photographer,

just because
I can't think of anything.

There's nothing
that would be better,

and there is nothing
that's better.

[rock music playing]

A music photographer
is the real key

to the idealism and mystery

that is the inspiring
part of music.

I feel like I'm documenting
musical history.

Getting to live it,
up close and personal,

it doesn't get
any better than that.

I would never say
I was part of the band,

but I was connecting.

What I do is a form of music.

It's just music for your eyes.

Music photography
is like the music itself.

It's part
of our cultural heritage.

It's part of our shared
identity as a people.

An iconic photograph
is indelible.

It always stays with you.

Besides the music itself,

these photographs
are the most important

visual document
of these musical artists.

This is a collaboration
between the photographer,

and the artist and the viewer,
and we're all willing it on.

We all want
to celebrate this stuff.

That eureka moment.

That's it,
I've got it and stuff.

So capturing that moment,
it's like, wow, this is gold.

One millisecond
later you haven't got it

and one millisecond
before you haven't got it.

But right on it, you've got it.

[shutter clicks]

[theme music playing]

['No One Knows' by
Queens of the Stone Age]

What makes a great
iconic music photograph

is something
that speaks to your soul.

♪ We get some rules
to follow ♪

♪ That and this,
these and those ♪

What you're looking
for as a photographer

is to create the iconic
picture that everyone knows.

[song continues playing]

You can't really try to shoot
an iconic photograph.

You can just hope
that you're in the place

in the moment,
and you capture it.

♪ How they stick
in your throat ♪

It's the artist, often
at the peak of their creativity,

caught really well by somebody
who knows what they're doing.

♪ Oh, what you do to me

I'm aiming for that
piece of magic

that bit of something
that takes it to another level.

DAVID CLINCH: You got
to figure out your own style.

What's it going to be?
What's your style?

['No One Knows'
continues playing]

My goal is to try to get deeper,

to get deeper into a moment
between myself and this musician

and the collaboration
that maybe, hopefully,

they haven't given someone else.

Good art elicits a reaction
and nothing more.

If it makes you move,
babe, it's art.

There definitely have been times

when I've taken a photograph

and a shiver goes up your spine,
and I thought, wow, this is it.

The hair stands up
on the back of your neck,

like I know this is a good shot.

I realize how special
moments in time are.

It's actually why
I love photography.

[music playing]

The moment is the moment,
and that's it.

JESSE FROHMNA: When I take
a picture, I don't think

of what will become
iconic or if it is iconic.

Like a fine wine,
it happens over time.

[music playing]

A picture just becomes iconic,

and that is almost despite you,
not because of you.

There's pictures
you take at the time

there seems nothing,
but when you look back at them

30 years later
are really important.

[music playing]

It's when you catch
them at that moment

that it just goes, wow,
that's Diana Ross.

That's the great thing
about music photography,

it just captures the sense
of the time and the zeitgeist.

['No One Knows'
continues playing]

♪ Heaven smiles

You have the opportunity
to do legendary work,

which should never
will be forgotten.

That's kind of wow.

Some would say
it's "much easier now"

because you can
"shoot in these bursts,"

but they're wrong,

because that's like sifting
through your favorite needle

in a stack of needles.

It really is about a really
great photographer identifying,

in this preternatural way,
like I'm near a moment

and it's about to happen.

[snaps fingers]

KEVIN WESTENBERG:
The big question then is,

how does an image become iconic?

How does it fit into society,
into pop culture,

into the grand scheme of things,

and rise above
what other people have done?

It's super difficult to get
all those elements right.

[shutter clicks]

[music playing]

David Bailey's
1965 portrait of John Lennon

and Paul McCartney, for me,
that's photographic ground zero.

I saw that in a book
in a school library

when I was about 14 years old.

Until that point,
photography was nothing more

than family portraits
and weddings.

That was the only reason that
photography needed to exist.

And then I got
in the school library one day,

on a rainy lunchtime,

and I opened this book,
and there was this picture,

and it literally just
knocked me off my chair.

And I realized, oh my god,

photography doesn't have
to be like sitting

in a high street studio
with your mom.

Photography can be this.

This is what photography can be.

It's just a beautiful,
beautiful distillation

of the austerity of the image.

In my mind, that picture is
the photographic equivalent

of three-chord rock and roll.

That is A, D, and E
in visual form.

Shadow, highlight,
white background.

That is A, D, and E,
right there.

That's Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis.

That's Louie Louie.

It's all of it in one picture.

[music playing]

I think magic happens.

I really believe
in magic in photography.

Things happen, and you go, how
did that just fall into place?

[grunge music playing]

JESSE FROHAM: Kurt Cobain
showed up four hours late,

and we had a definite schedule.

We had to be finished
by a certain time.

So what was expected
to be a five-hour shoot

turned out to be
a 30-minute shoot.

Many shoots you have
to roll with the punches.

I mean, that's just
the way it is in our business

of music photography.

But when he showed up,
he was so stoned

that he honestly was
like Silly Putty in my hand.

[song continues playing]

He showed up, oddly enough,
with a bag of clothes,

just stuck under his arm.

And he asked me
if I had a bucket.

That was the first
thing he said.

I said, of course.
We can get a bucket.

What do you need a bucket for?

He said,
I think I'm going to puke.

I mean, we had planned to do
a five-hour shoot on location

and had people waiting
in Central Park in New York City

and on the streets.

When I arrived
with a production crew,

I was told we had to shoot
in the basement of a hotel room.

I don't shoot very quickly

because I'm a controlled
studio photographer.

He's not a model
who's doing 1,001 poses,

so you have to take your time

and be patient
with people in the studio.

So because you don't have
the environment to work off,

it's a limited arrangement
of tools you can use.

It's a plain background
and light, basically.

When I got the film
back from the lab,

I knew I had
something really special.

[grunge music playing]

It really was fate because
I don't think I would have had

anything close to this
kind of an image of him

if I had shot on the streets.

[grunge song ends]

['Voodoo Child'

I photographed Jimi Hendrix
early in '67.

And I met him soon after
he arrived in London in '66.

♪ Well, I stand up
next to a mountain ♪

♪ And I chop it down
with the edge of my hand ♪

He was playing in a small club,

being launched to the media
and to the music business.

And his music
went right over my head.

I didn't get it.

I thought it was raucous,

I thought
it was rather tuneless.

♪ 'Cause I'm a voodoo child

♪ Lord knows
I'm a voodoo child, baby ♪

But what I could see was
that this was an extraordinary,

dynamic, charismatic individual

doing the most amazing things
with the guitar,

and I knew that I wanted
to photograph that.

[guitar solo]

I wanted to capture
the real person.

That was what interested me.

And I thought the way to do that

was to take what I considered
to be a serious proper portrait,

which meant black and white.

And I wanted to give
him gravitas and dignity.

I wanted to treat him
as a serious musician.

And he gave me

this extraordinary series
of moments.

[rock music playing]

JOHN VARVATOS: Gered's picture
of Jimi Hendrix from Mason Yards

is one of the most iconic
pictures in history.

And it's Jimi.

It's the way it was shot.
It's the lighting.

It's all the things that
came together as magic.

I've been looking
at that picture

from the time I was 12 years old
and I never get tired of it.

[rock music playing]

GERED MANKOWITZ:
He didn't have any sort of mask.

He was exactly
what you see is what you get.

There was no styling.

He wore the clothes
that he liked,

which included the military
jackets and a police cloak

and beautiful Victorian,
Edwardian shirts

and velvet and lace and silk.

And he just looked
absolutely fantastic.

He didn't try particularly hard.

He responded
to my minimal direction.

He just looked into the camera
and he let me in.

It was absolutely fantastic.

[rock music continues]

JILL FURMANOVSKY:
Hendrix knew that Gered

and him would be able
to produce something together

that was going to be iconic.

Now, he may not have
thought of it in that way,

but Hendrix is
giving Gered pictures.

There's something going
on between the photographer

and the artist
in those pictures.

GERED MANKOWITZ:
I knew at the time

that I was grading
great pictures,

but I had no idea that he was
even going to be successful.

No idea that he was going
to become such a huge star.

And of course,
no idea that he was going

to be dead within three years.

[light electric guitar playing]

DAVID FAHEY: You can't escape
that penetrating gaze

and that strength
that this musician has.

I mean,
it's the prime of his life.

He's direct, forceful.

You know the music
behind that face.

It says it all in one image.

That was the only one
I shot on that roll like that.

All the rest
of the pictures on that roll

have the band with him.

I don't know why
I got rid of the band

and I asked him to do that,
and I don't know why

I didn't shoot
10 rolls like that.

But I didn't,
and that extraordinary picture

that has a life
and an energy all of its own

is the only frame in that
whole session like that.

[music concludes]

If you're going to start
with the rock and roll tradition

and what music
is going to become,

you've got to go with the blues.

And if you're going to go
with the blues,

you've got to go
to Robert Johnson.

['Sweet Home Chicago'
by Robert Johnson]

♪ Baby don't you want to go ♪

ASHLEY KAHN: That's
an amazing historical shot.

GERED MANKOWITZ: He's sitting
down in a photographic studio.

It was the Hooks Brothers
Studios in Memphis, Tennessee,

about 1935.

He's dressed
in his Sunday finest.

And it's just a photograph

that is old-fashioned
and modern.

Everybody knows
that picture in music.

It's just a telling picture.

It looks like this stylish,
flashy guy

that really knows
what he's doing.

SEASICK STEVE: When I saw
that picture of Robert,

man, he looking good,
and knowing it, too.

Looking like a ladies' man,

and all his music
is nothing but sexy.

History was made
by finding an image

of this legendary
and important figure

who sold his soul to the devil.

♪ Land of California
to my sweet home Chicago ♪

The idea of a man going
down to the crossroads,

selling his soul to the devil
in a Faustian pact,

and then returning
with these sublime skills

as a guitar player
is just this thing

that inflames the imagination.

ASHLEY KAHM: It was amazing

how rapid
his musical ascent was.

He went from being someone
who was just stumbling around

on a guitar to becoming a poet
on the level of Bob Dylan.

That music was
the genesis of everything

that we know as rock and roll.

That photograph,
for a Black man in the 1930s,

was more polished,
more sophisticated

than any White American
would expect

a rural sharecropper

to be able to achieve,

and it predicts
the kind of ambition

and aspiration
that's going to be

in hip hop covers
in the '80s and '90s.

That's the image that really
kicked off this whole idea

of iconic music photography.

[old-time guitar playing]

[rock music playing]

I was working
at the Daily Sketch

and I told the picture
editor on the Sketch,

I said I didn't really
know what I was doing.

He said, don't worry.
I'll look after you.

He said, I'm really employing
you because you're a musician,

and we think pop music's
going to be big in the '60s,

and we need someone young,
their age,

to communicate with them.

So he said, you start Monday.

And he said, I want you to go
down tomorrow to Abbey Road.

There's a group there
called The Beatles

and they recorded something
called "Please Please Me."

Go down and photograph them,
and I did.

[rock music playing]

John had the best personality
so I put him in the front.

Paul was the next one.

George was the nice guy.

And so was Ringo, but I had
Ringo holding the cymbal.

I mean, it was a joke, really.

[music playing]

Anyway, the picture published.

The papers sold out
so that we did write

about the success of pop music.

And I go in the next day
and the phone rings.

It's Andrew Oldham.

And he says,
I'm the manager of The Stones

He said,
can you do for The Stones

what you did for The Beatles?

So I went and photographed them.

So I started at the top
and never looked back.

I mean, none of us
knew what we were doing.

I mean, it was all
brand new to all of us.

I mean you couldn't believe
that you get paid to do

exactly what you wanted to do.

[rock music playing]

We used to go to a club
called the Ad Lib Club.

The Beatles and Stones,
we used to sit

and we used to talk
about what job were we going

to get when all this was over.

We were all convinced

it was going
to be over in a couple of years

and we're going to have
to get a proper job.

[rock music continues]

I remember
photographing The Stones

and people would say,
what was it like?

And I said,
they were the youngest band

I've ever shot in my life,

because all they were
was full of energy.

[music playing]

They're a gift.

You know, when you get
to photograph people

like The Stones, they're a gift.

They totally understand
the... the game.

They know exactly
what to give you.

They know their angles.

They're like four times
Kate Moss,

they're like... always fags
in their mouth.

Even now they're all like that,
like it's bizarre.

And they look good in anything.

You could put them
in a plastic bag

and they look good,
so they're just a gift to you.

And I think
the main thing for me

when I'm shooting them is
to just let them be themselves

and to encourage that.

GARED MANKOWITZ:
In my experience,

some of the most rewarding
and satisfying sessions

have been with artists
early on in their career,

because there is a willingness.

There's an innocence.
There's a naïveté.

They want to create
a great image.

And I love that.

[music playing]

JANETTE BECKMAN: When you're
photographing these bands

in the early stages
of their career,

they're just getting
their image together.

[hip hop music playing]

Like Run-DMC in 1984,
on the street

where they live
in Hollis Queens.

They had this attitude
and they knew how to pose.

And, you know,
I'm looking at them.

I get that picture maybe
in the first 12 shot roll.

That's a tricky picture

because there's a lot
of dappled sunlight

and you've got black faces,
white Adidas.

You know, they've got
Cazals, Kangol,

and they just look so damn cool.

They weren't that big.

In New York people knew of them.

Then they became one
of the hugest hip hop groups

to ever walk
the face of the earth.

DAVID FAHEY:
People like the beginnings

because it's when
they were blossoming.

That's when there were fresh.

How did it all start?

What do they look like
when it started?

Where they are young and sexy?

Were they quirky?

What really made
them look appealing?

['Everybody' by Madonna]

♪ Everybody, come on

♪ Dance and sing

♪ Everybody,
get up and do your thing ♪

♪ Everybody, come on,
dance and sing ♪

♪ Everybody,
get up and do your thing ♪

There was just something so
intoxicating about this woman.

♪ Find a groove
and let yourself go ♪

♪ When the room begins to sway

DEBORAH FEINGOLD:
One was taken with her.

She had a really
strong presence.

But, you know,
it was interesting.

She was ready and I was ready,

and that is exactly
what the shoot was.

We both got to work.

♪ Everybody,
you can do your thing ♪

♪ Everybody, come on

It was completely set up
before she came in.

It was a little 500-square foot
room that I lived in.

So the dining room table
folded back.

The bed was a futon
that folded back.

And I set a 9-foot wide seamless

at one end, and that's
as wide as the room was.

And then we rolled it out.

And we had one front light
and then a light behind her.

There was clearly
no catering budget,

but I had a bowl
of bubblegum and lollipops.

I'm not sure why, but that
was the food for the day.

[pop music playing]

We shot four rolls of film.

But it was a Hasselblad,
12 exposures,

so maybe 48 pictures,
maybe less.

I didn't direct her at all,
except to say,

could you move a little this way

because she was
covering a light,

which was
very distracting for me,

and yet it's that
glow behind her

that really makes it
from a flat image

to one with some depth to it.

The lollipop image,
there is an innocence to it.

I didn't ask her to hold it.

Can you imagine me
telling her how to pose?

God. [laughs]

But she must have picked it up.

I... I can't imagine me saying,

oh, could you be seductive
with that lollipop? [laughs]

It was really her show.

But here... here's the thing.

I can't imagine
that that entire shoot

took more than 20 minutes.

She was so confident
in who she was,

and what she was doing that it
was just the dance and she led.

[pop music ends]

ANDY EARL:
Madonna's one of the best people
to photograph in the world.

She walked in and went,
I chose you because

it looks like you
make people laugh.

It's nerve-racking
when people say that to you,

but that is kind of what I am.

I never, ever worry about being
a twat or being an idiot.

I've got no fear of that.

A lot of my pictures
seem improvised,

but have a little bit

of the performance
element to them, you know.

The fist thing I go to.

It's like give me...
Give me the fist.

Give me the fist.

I get people to scream.

I scream at people.

You're there to create an image.

I mean, some bands
give it to the photographer

and, you know, some
photographers push that out of

them and some photographers
seduce it out of them.

Some of the best photo
shoots that I've enjoyed

is when you're just
having a conversation

and the photographers
taking pictures

while you're having
that conversation.

You didn't even know that you're
actually having a-a photoshoot.

And all of a sudden,
it's like, we're done.

Most people hate
having their picture taken

at the end of the day,
and so you're trying

to make the process fun
because if it's fun for them,

you have their confidence.

JONATHAN MANNION: It's never
about imposing your will,

but it is having
a strong position

that can then either be
challenged or played into.

You got to remember
that there's an aesthetic

that goes with being in a band,
or being on stage.

And they can't see it so,

they're really looking
to you to give them that.

I never particularly enjoyed
having my photo taken,

but when the result is something

that is quite
iconic or powerful,

then you kind of think,
well, that was worth it.

Me, what I do is performance.

I have to encourage that
person to be comfortable

and to be who they are,

and to be relaxed enough with me

to become themselves,
let themselves out.

You've got to get
those people in a place

where they forget
why they're there,

because that's when
everything slides and slips.

But that's when
you get the magic.

There's a beautiful
sweet spot that you can find

when you're looking
down the lens.

You can't lie.

You can't use your
wizardry with your words.

People can see
and they can feel.

And I think that
the photographers out there

who know how
to make you feel easy,

they'll catch that moment.

[acoustic guitar playing]

BOB GRUEN:
'71 was the first time
I saw John and Yoko

at the Apollo Theater,

and I took
some pictures of them backstage.

There were several
people taking pictures

while they were
waiting for the limo.

And John looked around and said,

people are always taking
pictures of us like this

and we never see them.
What happens to these pictures?

And I said, I live around
the corner from you.

I'll show you my pictures.

And he goes,
you live around the corner?

Slip them under the door.

As I started working with them,
Yoko said,

we're not going to pay you,
but you'll get great access

to have pictures that you'll
be able to make money selling

to the public,
if you'll show us the pictures

and use the pictures
that we like.

[mello rock music playing]

I started going to the studio
and hanging out with them.

We had a lot in common.

We had the same
cynical kind of sense of humor,

outlook towards the world.

We were both drinking a lot.

And one night when I was
on my way to see John,

I was going through Times Square

and I saw the guys
selling the T-shirts.

I thought, oh,
I'll get one for John.

So I picked one up,

cut the sleeves off
with my book knife,

and I gave it to him that night.

And it was a year later
on his rooftop...

he had had a shower.
His hair looked good.

And so we started
taking some pictures of him

sitting on the ledge
and at different places

around the roof.

And then I said, do you still
have that New York T-shirt?

Would you wear that?
We got the skyline.

It's perfect.

We're here in New York.
Wear the New York shirt.

A lot of people in New York
come from somewhere

and end up staying here,

and I felt he was going
to be a New Yorker.

New York's an attitude.

He wasn't saying
I'm a New Yorker.

He was saying New York.
You know?

There's something about that.

You just know what
he's talking about.

You know that it's that power.

It's that peak.
It's that perfection.

It's the ultimate.

JULIAN LENNON:
People looked at him differently
over there.

He crawled out of a caterpillar

of life in The Beatles years

and this was one
of his butterflies.

BOB GRUEN:
Two of the pictures from that
one roll were both very popular,

the one with the New
York City T-shirt,

that's the most well known.

And there's another one

where he's got
the denim jacket on

that's equally comfortable,
and powerful and available.

There's something
about the picture that although

he's got the sunglasses
and he's a pop star

and looks cool,
he's very available.

He's very open.

He looks like he's about to have
a conversation with you.

JULIAN LENNON:
You could see that Dad was
completely comfortable with Bob.

You can see that there's mutual
respect in that relationship,

and that's why I think

that most people
who look at that image

can feel a part of,
it because it's Dad chilling out

and relaxing and having fun.

[rock song ends]

I'm a big fan
of capturing a moment.

I like to be loose and free

and shooting
what's in front of me.

You know, I just really enjoy
the photograph as a document.

I have been photographing
all the winners

and performers at the Grammys
for like 15 years, right?

At the end of the show,

all the artists come back,

especially the more
famous artists.

And they won't
stand in line for long,

but there does...
A line starts to form.

And you're shooting,

and I happen
to be photographing BB King.

And I'm a big blues fan

and I had worked
with BB King before.

And we were shooting
and I was getting into it.

And I could tell that everybody
around me who's normally

looking at, say, my subject,
they're looking behind me

and they're not
looking at BB King.

So I kind of turn around
and I look behind me

and there's Paul McCartney
and like Dave Grohl and Jay-Z.

And I don't want to rush BB King
because he's one of my heroes

and certainly I want
to get the great photo.

And I turned to Paul
McCartney and I say, um,

Paul, uh, I want you to know,
just let me finish with Mr. King

and then I'll bring you in.

Of course,
you've met BB King before, yeah?

And Paul says,
actually I've never met BB King.

And so I said, oh,
well, allow me.

And I walked him over.

Paul McCartney, meet BB King.

[blues music playing]

I whipped out my camera
and got a shot of the two

of them just
admiring each other,

and it was pretty cool.

NEAL X:
Being a photographer was super,
super cool in the '60s and '70s.

They had to recognize
who was going to be interesting,

get in there,
and capture the right stuff.

It's not about the equipment
or anything.

It's about being there
and realizing

you had a moment to capture.

Without that, there wouldn't
be any great iconic images.

['It's All Over Now,
Baby Blue' by Bob Dylan]

Just get Dylan
to be your subject

and you're halfway there.

♪ The highway is for gamblers

♪ Better use your sense ♪

♪ Take what you have
gathered from coincidence ♪

♪ The empty-handed
painter from your streets ♪

♪ Is drawing crazy patterns
on your sheets ♪

♪ The sky, too,
is folding over you ♪

♪ And it's all over now,
Baby Blue ♪

I was given, uh, a special
setting for about 10,

15 minutes with him,
but we just hit it off.

[Dylan music playing]

I wanted that first session
to be really good.

When you're in a recording
studio with all that equipment,

they all look somewhat the same.

You have to find your moments.

And, uh, they liked what I had
done, and then I felt,

OK, now is the time to move.

Would you come to my studio?

In the photo studio, you have
lots of props and all that.

I'd give him something
and he'd do something.

I'd give him a little
painting that I had used

in some photograph a week ago.

I gave it to him
and he'd take it

and he'd blow smoke in her face,
things like that.

Basically, if you have
any sort of rapport with him,

you'll get a picture.

Because he really goes for it.

He really thinks...
He thinks very quickly.

He'll come up with something,
and if you're fast enough,

you'll catch it.

If I throw him my keys,
he would take it

and he would do
something bizarre,

which I wouldn't have done
if somebody threw me the keys.

You know, so he had
his own special ways.

And if you go
through the, uh, contacts,

you'll see different things
that he would do.

Even one of my favorite
photographs of Dylan

where he covers his face.

I took it. I didn't ask him
to cover his face.

When I see it, I take it.

His manager liked
the photographs I was taking.

Albert Grossman said, would
you like to do a cover for us?

I said, uh, I'd love to.

And, uh, he told me
it's called "Blonde on Blonde."

I still don't know why
it's called "Blonde on Blonde."

I don't know
if anybody else does.

Most of the studio thinks
we're... we're pretty good.

You know, but halfway through
the sitting, I just didn't feel

I was getting something special.

So I said, uh,
would you go out with me?

I want to go out in the street.

He said, yeah, OK.
Let's go.

[Dylan music playing]

I knew that I wasn't holding it
as steady as I would like to.

And I tried.
I held it.

But there were five,
six, eight images

that were blurred and moving.

And, uh, when I got them back,

I immediately
put them on the side.

I figured I won't send it
to the record company.

They're not going
to put on a photograph

that's moving or blurred.

And he... while going through
them, he said, what's that?

When he saw that
and I told him, he said,

that's the one I want.

[Dylan music playing]

There's an image right after it,
where he has a slight smile.

And the one that
we chose finally

doesn't have that smile.

That's a major
difference for me.

People started to say, what is...
What is the interpretation?

Is that you're trying to show

a drug high
or something like that?

I said, no.
It was cold.

It was February and we
were both wearing light jackets

and I tried to stay as straight
as I could, you know.

I think the sleeve
to "Blonde on Blonde"

is a... is a remarkable moment
in time

because it breaks all the rules.

The blurriness does
define the music

that is on that record,

but also, it seems
to say I just don't care.

You can think
what you like about me.

I am me.

I'm just going to stroll on.

I loved it,

but I put it aside
because I figured

the record company
wouldn't go for it.

He said, no, no, no.

Let's go that one.

And what Dylan wants,
Dylan gets.

I usually use the location

as a cue to kind of get an idea.

With musicians, especially,
they've got such a set idea

of who they are
and who they want to be

and how they want
to be portrayed.

I think as a photographer,
to go in with a concept

and say, I want you to do this,
I think it's...

it's kind of disrespectful
in a way.

I like to let them
show me who they are,

and then I...

it sounds pretentious,
but I'm inspired by that.

[electronic music playing]

Working with Billie Eilish
for NME

was interesting
because it was a few days

before her 17th birthday.

So I'm nearly double her age,

and she's also like way cooler
than I could ever hope to be,

no matter how old I am.

She had a stylist.

And I went into the stylist
and I was like,

what colors are we working with?

Because the location
was quite loud,

color-wise, so I didn't
want to clash too much.

And she was just like,
Billie decides

whatever she wants to wear.

She came in wearing
kind of this weird Louis Vuitton

brown velour tracksuit
that I was like,

it's an interesting look.

[pop music playing]

She kind of swamps
herself in her styling.

And the second look we did
was this giant yellow fisherman

coat by Montclair,
so it probably cost thousands,

and she could barely move in it.

At one point I had
her sitting on the floor in it.

And I had to kind of like
manhandle her down

because she couldn't
get down in this outfit,

and then I had to manhandle
it back up

because she couldn't
actually move in these clothes.

You just have to let her

do her thing
because she has a thing.

[electronic music playing]

I've never seen anyone

who is so naturally beautiful
try hard not to be.

[electronic music playing]

I had three hours with her
so you've got more time

to be like, OK, well,
she's doing that,

so how can I translate
this into what I want?

[electronic music playing]

It comes down to letting
musicians be themselves.

Even if I don't agree
with what their look is

or what their aesthetic is,
even if I don't really like it,

it's not up to me to say,
no, I want you to look like this

because I want people
to be who they are.

[music playing]

ALBERT WATSON:
Some people,
it's easy to photograph them

and they're used
to being photographed.

Other times people are very shy

and... and very worried
about the shooting.

So therefore, you really
want to go above and beyond

and spend that time.

If you've already got
Michael Jackson,

Kanye West, 50 Cent,

Slick Rick, it doesn't matter.

I'm just very straightforward
and honest with them.

[pop music playing]

Beyoncé is really the nicest,
sweetest person.

I did most
of the photography with her

when she was
with Destiny's Child,

and she was just wonderful.

She was friendly,
very humble, very open

to doing, uh,
different pictures.

[pop music playing]

She had a great outfit
that I photographed her in,

which was a kind
of July the Fourth stars

and stripes hot pants outfit
with a little hat, you know

which I loved.

[pop music playing]

Did a body profile turning
towards the camera.

And she looked at the pictures.
She says, oh, I love it.

And she said, can I just speak
to you for a moment in private?

I said, sure.

So I looked at the Polaroids.

I kind of anticipated
what she was going to say.

And I said,
do you mean your backside?

She said, yes.

And I said, do not worry.

We can retouch that
much smaller if you want.

Then she looked at me,
gigantically horrified.

She said, smaller?

She said, I need bigger.

[electronic music playing]

BOB GRUEN:
You have to do your best to try
to make the act look good.

You know,
if you're on assignment

you're just meeting
somebody in a hotel room

and you've got 10 minutes
to take their picture,

you still have to try
to figure out who they are,

what they're trying to say,

and how best to express
that in the picture.

Before I shoot, I'll do
as much preparation as possible.

Come up with different
scenarios, come up with...

even work out roughly what I'm
going to do with the lighting.

So I go in there really,
really well prepared.

But there's always
a bit of luck.

[rock music playing]

ANDY EARL: Morrissey was
living in Los Angeles,

and he's always had
an obsession with James Dean.

So we thought, right.

We'll shoot him
at the Griffith Observatory,

which is in Los Angeles,

and it's where they filmed
"Rebel Without a Cause."

So we arranged that we're going
to meet him there

up at lunchtime.

I went up there

and I wanted to shoot
with a panoramic camera.

It's like vista division,
a big, wide view.

And so I went up and we
found the telescope,

and it was a nice, little bit
of graphics and things.

Got it all set up
ready for lunchtime.

He didn't turn up.
2 o'clock, he didn't turn up.

Then it clouded over
and it was all going a bit blah.

And he turned up
at about 5 o'clock, you know.

Oh, sorry.
I'm a bit late.

And, uh, sat him down, started
taking the photograph of him.

And because
we'd lost all the light,

I ended up
putting a little flash,

which gives a sort of shaft
of light across his body.

And then suddenly,
the whole thing

had like a three
dimensionality to it.

And actually, the stoney sky
helped the feel of the picture,

rather than it being a nice,
pretty blue sky.

And it said
"The Telescope" going one way

and he looked the other way.

But the other thing was that
when we then printed it up,

looked at it,
where he's actually sitting,

somebody had scratched
"soul," S-O-U-L,

as in soul music, on the side.

So when he saw that,
he thought that was great.

[rock music playing]

Often, we can see this way,

and when someone forces you
to put a different vision on,

it expands.

The Sinéad O'Connor assignment,

we shot it in her hotel room

and I asked my assistant
to get the... the lights set up.

And he basically said
that would be a problem

because he forgot the AC cord.

[laughs]

Now, this shoot's going
to happen now

whether I have it or not.

So what photography taught
me was how to improvise,

and that is honestly
how that shot happened.

[music playing]

I had my tripod.

It's a very long exposure,

and I wanted to blow
the background out

and just silhouette her.

Didn't really know... remember,
it's not digital.

I've got a Polaroid back,
but I'm not really seeing

exactly how it's going to look.

[music playing]

That's why it's really exciting,
as a photographer

or a filmmaker or whatever,
to always be open to

that wasn't what
I was going to do.

God knows I didn't know
what I was going to do.

I was only shooting
in her hotel room.

But I never would have seen
that if that hadn't happened,

and that's sort of what makes
your career really interesting.

I think a good picture
reflects the band

and what they're about.

If they're a young, punky band,

I want some spunk
in the picture.

I want some character, I want
some bollocks in the picture.

A soul singer,
maybe the polar opposites.

[inaudible] said I want
a huge spliff on the burn

with them or something.

I want something to reflect
what they're about, if you can.

That's not always there.

Those props aren't always there.

Then you strip it back down

and you
just want the simplest thing.

You want... you want
to show their character.

Want to show what they're about.

JONATHAN MANNION:
I'm not always going to walk
into a situation with a plan.

You know,
if everything goes right today,

I'm going to get A, B, C,
D, E, F, G.

And that's it, and those
are my shots, and whatever.

And inevitably, in hip hop,
people change their minds.

I did one for The Source
with Snoop in Baton Rouge.

He had signed
to No Limit Records,

and quite literally,
he showed up

to get a check from No Limit.

And then he was like, oh, man.
I'll be right back.

I got to go pick my wife
up from the airport,

but I'm... I'm going
to come back.

I was like, Snoop,
I've been waiting

for you for three hours.

You're not coming back.

Give me a little burst.
Give me like 30 minutes, man.

And like let's see if I can even
get it within that time.

That might be all I need.

And he's like, oh,
but she's arriving and late.

And I was like, I could see that
he was lying to my face.

I was like, dude, come on.
Let's do the dance.

Out 20 minutes.
He's like, ugh... six.

I was like, 18.

12.

And like, you know, we just sort
of like landed at this thing.

I literally got
12 minutes with him

on the side of a building.

I got 20 rolls of film,
10 sheets of 8 by 10,

and a pack of Polaroids.

And he took off.
And I was like,

thanks so much.
See you later.

And the images were fantastic.

[music playing]

I love Snoop Dogg,
and he's a [bleep] character.

Snoop is a wonderful subject.

I mean, in terms
of West Coast hip hop,

he's clearly our icon.

He is one of those characters
that has been omnipresent

throughout the entire journey,

who, at the same time,
is so accessible, so humble,

yet has so much cultural
significance.

I mean, he's a national
treasure of the world, really,

but certainly of hip hop.

[rap beat playing]

TOM SHEENAN: He's implicated
in a trial for murder.

And we knew we were
going out there to do this piece

and we knew that
we couldn't talk about it.

[music playing]

So I was in a cab to Heathrow,
and there's a joke shop

on the corner
of Amen Corner in Tooting.

And I thought,
I'll get some handcuffs.

So [inaudible] got them.
Went in, went to America.

So we go there,
and there was like a party.

It was the end of the party,
a weekend party,

by the looks of it.

Off their bonks on chronic,

I believe it might
have been called.

Got the interview.

I said, well, let's go
outside for some pictures.

I said, OK, do you remember
the guy Smith at the Olympics,

you know, giving
the Black Power salute?

He goes, yeah, of course I do.
I said, could you repeat that?

He went, of course I can.

So he put his arm up
and I clipped the bracelets on,

and I just went [camera noise].

Hold on, bit of color.
[camera noise].

And that was it.

It just said it all.

Get it as fast
as you can as good as you can

and make it count.

And I'm quite proud
of that shot.

That shot is shot inside
an LA prison.

[laughs]

I'm the only man who put
Snoop Dogg inside a prison cell.

[laughter]

The whole of LAPD tried
all their life and never... yeah.

OLAF HEINE: I didn't want to do
the cliché hip hop picture,

but I looked at his physics
and at the shape of his face,

and for some reason,
I had this idea

like he looks a little
bit like Asian Huns,

wise but also warriors.

So I told my stylist,
bring a sword.

Bring the dress and everything.

So I started some other
pictures to get warm with him,

and then at some point
I mentioned,

do you know the Shaolin monks or
the samurai, the wise warriors?

He's like, that's me.

Let's do it.

[rap music playing]

The silhouette shot
was the same session.

It was like after
we did that picture where

he were sitting at the table

and he started like
[sword noises].

And we were in this warehouse
in downtown LA

and he was in front
of the window.

And I'm like, freeze.

Even if you don't have
the details and it's all black

and it's a silhouette shot,
you can tell it's him, you know.

[rap music playing]

JESSE FROHMAN:
I think what made me
a good photographer of rap

was I was bringing
to it something else

that I felt other photographers
weren't, and that was detail.

[music playing]

Flavor Flav,
he was like James Brown to me.

He even spoke like James Brown
and had that raspy voice.

And, uh, he came over
to my house

and I could tell right away
he was crazy.

Um, fun crazy, but crazy.

He would come out
of the bathroom and say, yo,

Flavor Flav flushed the toilet.

And like these strange things
would come out of his mouth.

And I'm like, OK,
he's going to be a fun one.

I took him up to the roof
because the light was beautiful

that day,
and he sent my assistant out

for white gloves,

so almost like a mime
act or something.

So he had these white gloves on,
his dark skin,

and he had a red tracksuit,
I remember.

And he had this grill say
Flavor Flav, the cutouts.

And I realized that even
though he had this crazy energy,

that I could describe everything
I needed to describe about him

by photographing his teeth.

And I went in as close
as I could with my Hasselblad.

To get Flavor Flav
to sit still for five seconds

is almost impossible,

and to have critical focus
when you're in that close,

photographing literally
just this much of his face.

You know, I looked at the
lighting and framed it just so,

and that picture is now,
to me, one of the most

favorite pictures
of all the rappers I've shot,

and it doesn't
even show his face.

[music playing]

That said so much
about hip hop to me

that I knew, in some sense,

it would become
an iconic picture.

I have never really
met anybody in a band

ever that's like who
they are in the media.

Bono, super excited.

Loves, loves,
loves the whole thing.

Just loves everybody.
I photographed him recently.

He walked in and he
shouted as he was walking in,

don't you find
that you miss someone

even more just
as you're about to see them?

Liam and Noel, again,
Liam, especially.

Everyone's got him
marked out as this tough guy.

He's just taking
the mickey all the time.

CHALKIE DAVIES:
People like Mick Jagger
and Paul McCartney

are very difficult
to photograph because

there's no picture
that you can get,

really, that hasn't been done.

Their faces are
so incredibly well known,

and so you have to have ideas.

OLAF HEINE:
I look at the artists
that I've photographed

and most of them have
been shot for millions of times,

like U2 or like Sting,

so I have to find
my own little path.

And most of it has to do
with what I feel when I listen

to the music
or when I talk to the guys,

and then all of a sudden,
from somewhere, there's an idea.

You don't know that
you've got an iconic image

until that image is being
given a chance to grow.

It happens because the artist
maybe dies at a young age

and at the peak of their fame,
as Kurt did

and Jimi Hendrix and others.

They become iconic, and then
the potential for their pictures

to become iconic can happen.

GERED MANKOWITZ:
The Jimi Hendrix picture
didn't really become iconic

until a long time
after his death

because it wasn't
really seen very much.

I've always held
my work back a lot,

like I didn't want it
to be oversaturated, you know.

And I think that worked
against me because I think

a lot of what makes
certain photos iconic

is just that everyone
has seen them.

It's the viewer.

That's it.

That's what makes
a photograph iconic.

It's how many
individuals respond,

have some emotional resonance
with a particular image.

CHRIS MURRAY:
I've sat with the same
photo for 20 years, 30 years.

It reveals more to you
if you're serious

about looking at these things.

The subject dies,
the photographer dies...

a lot of things can
affect how you look at it.

[reggae music playing]

ADRIAN BOOT: When I first
photographed Bob Marley,

I wasn't in awe
of this superstar.

Nobody had a clue that
he was going to be a superstar.

[music playing]

The legend picture
was an outtake.

It came from some photos
I did of a video

that was being shot

at the Keskidee Centre
in London,

which is a community center,

and there was
a children's party there.

[music playing]

It's not a particularly
good photograph.

If I was judging
a photographic contest

and that picture came up,
I would dismiss it

on all sorts of grounds.

Technically, it's not brilliant.

It's available light,
800 ASA, Ektachrome.

It's not that good, really.

[laughs]

Photographs can carry
its own influence,

its own message

without the words, without
the sound without the music

because of what they know
of this man in the photograph.

It's become iconic.

If you think of Bob Marley,
you think of that image,

or most people do.

Nobody had a clue how important
Bob Marley was in those days,

in those early days.

It wasn't really
until after he died

that he became
as big as he is today.

[pop music playing]

I've got two pictures
of Bob Marley,

one in the living room,
one in the kitchen.

When you think of him,
you only think of positivity.

It's like his image
brings light to a room.

I like having
a picture of my father.

It represents
something to someone,

and influences them, too.

Photos have the power of magic.

They're pigment on paper.

Those silver prints
or those color prints,

there's a magic
in how that all comes together,

and they're in front of you
as this great artist, poet,

what have you.

The whole idea
of portrait photography

is capturing
something different,

capturing something
in their eyes,

capturing something
in their soul.

I'm rather on this side
of the Native Americans

who said you're going
to steal the soul

when you take a picture.

I'm stealing a little
bit of that soul

of that person in that moment.

[music playing]

You can have a sense
of communion with this person

through these photos.

They actually have
that sort of impact.

They move people,
just like the music does.

[theme music playing]