Not everyone can post a selfie with Madonna on Instagram and write in the caption, “Talent is dripping out of our assholes.” But American fashion photographer Steven Klein can.
As a visual storyteller for almost four decades, his professional career could easily fill the pages of an epic biography full of glamour, drama, rebellion and provocation – just like his images. His Polaroid archive alone opens a portal into his past collaborations with legends of fashion, music and film (Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Mick Jagger, Prince) as well as the relationships that have naturally grown from those interactions.
18 of his personally-selected Polaroids will be going to auction at Phillips in London in Ultimate Steven Klein. Steven relied on these one-of-a-kind prints, varying in three formats (4×5, 8×10 and Type 100) from 1989 to 2007 as tools to help him on photo shoots.
From his studio in New York City by phone just after completing some edits, he tells me about how his Polaroids provided a rough draft of magazine editorials happening on set. At times, these Polaroids were also a way for him to start conversations about the creative process with the people in front of his lens.
“So I feel like the Polaroid is like a sketch,” he says in his low, bass voice. “When I worked with David Bowie for L’Uomo Vogue, I remember he was so helpful. We shot this picture then I showed him the Polaroid. Polaroids take something of their own on and people are more accepting to look at them and have less scrutiny on themselves.”
Steven instinctively knew how to use the Polaroid as a talking point between him and Bowie. “My problem with this picture was I didn’t like the way this Prada jacket looked on him in this environment. I went over to David, and said, ‘Oh David, I don’t know what to do. What can we do to make this a stronger image?’ He’s supposed to be coming out of a hole in the ground in a prison. But he’s wearing a proper suit jacket. I showed him the Polaroid and he said, ‘Oh I have an idea.‘ He took the jacket and he turned it inside out to see the Prada label. He changed the pose then turned straight to the camera so we were able to perfect the picture: He was part of that conversation. It actually helped in an enormous way to make it become a much better image for that cover.”
Madonna’s involvement in their photo shoots goes deeper. Steven and the Queen of Pop share a history dating back to the early 00s and speak a common language of iconography. After all, Madonna once stated that one of their first collaborations came to fruition based on, “…a mutual passion for horses, mysticism, great art, and hot sex.” Steven talks about one of their earlier projects: “One of the pictures of Madonna when she’s upside down, that was from a series of the first time we worked together over 20 years ago for X-STaTIC Pro=CeSS. Sometimes, I’ll be shooting film, and in between this picture, I’ll shoot Polaroids just to check what I’m shooting. The Polaroid is the part in between rolls that I shot of her upside down on the pole. Because again, how many times can you ask someone to go upside down on a pole? With celebrities I work much quicker because every moment could be a potential image.”
Steven understands how to economise time. During his creative projects, those limited hours enabled him to develop close working relationships not only with Madonna but also with Brad Pitt. Brad initially contacted Steven in the late 90s and asked him to lens the costumes of Fight Club. The grit and rawness of this David Fincher film attracted them both to the project and, since then, he and Brad have worked together again on different images. Similarly, Steven has repeatedly shot 90s supermodels like Claudia, Naomi and Kate – though their working relationship, according to him, is more like “actor/director.”
With certain celebrities, Steven emphasises: “Madonna loves photography, filmmaking – we always watch old films together. Brad loves the process of making pictures very interesting and the process of photography. I think he probably would have been a photographer if he weren’t an actor. Inherently, what brings us together is a love for the same art form. In the beginning, I always feel like these are my collaborators – not just taking pictures of them. Brad will mention an idea, and then I’ll present him with a storyboard. We’re always doing something different, and we’re evolving. That’s created these long relationships of never repeating ourselves and challenging ourselves in new ways.”
And though Steven has been constantly pushing boundaries of what he can achieve visually, he mentions a bittersweet, nostalgic truth about the past. Even though Polaroids captured instant moments and served as a useful medium, they hark back to an era of wondering how things would turn out.
“What I miss about analogue photography is that people had more patience,” he says. “The process was slower. You had to have more certainty in what you did. It wasn’t like we’d fix it later. There’s always that time with anything creative. That magical time of not knowing what you’re gonna get when you’re waiting for the film to come back.”
‘Ultimate Steven Klein’ is on view in London from 15-21 November 2022. His Polaroids will be sold on 21 November 2023.
Credits
All images courtesy of Phillips