When did you first become aware of Kurt and Nirvana?
When Nevermind was first released I was working a lot for Spin and they played the album in the office. We all knew instantly that it was going to be a huge album and change the face of rock’n’roll.
What were you expecting when you were going to shoot him?
Well I was expecting to do a location shoot with the band. I didn’t have any specific expectations of Kurt – I prefer to get my own impression of my subjects when I meet them.
So what impression did he make?
He was everything I could have hoped for. He came across as a true artist and rock star but in a totally unexpected way. He was quiet and without the demands that typical rock stars have.
Did you feel you were capturing an iconic moment in that shoot?
I was so frustrated with the limited time that I had to shoot, and the fact that the original concept of the shoot had changed, that I wasn’t focused on the great pictures that I was capturing. Of course, afterwards when I saw the contact sheets I knew I had some iconic pictures.
He didn’t take his glasses off during the pictures, was that a weird or difficult thing to capture?
It wasn’t difficult to take a good picture with glasses at all. In fact I loved it.
What’s your favourite picture from the shoot?
I don’t have just one favourite shot. In fact, I think of the pictures from this shoot differently than I had in the past. Where once I looked for the two or three most iconic images, I now see the shoot more as a cinematic portrait. That is, the series of images make up a more complete portrait in a very interesting way, which is not always the case in photography. That is why I made the book that just came out.
Would Kurt rank as the most iconic person you’ve ever shot? Who else would come close?
Well Kurt has become one of the most iconic figures in recent history, full stop. Although I’ve shot many famous people it’s difficult to come close in status to what Kurt has become, but I suppose James Brown is in the same class of greats. Too bad I wasn’t around for the Beatles or the early Stones.
