FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Iconic Shots
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
The Hounds of Love Cover, 1985 (John Carder Bush)
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WHEN it comes to Kate Bush…
and photographers, there is this holy trinity that I associate with her. Those who had a long relationship and great creative bond. Resulting in some stunning photographs. I have already named two of those photographers: Gered Mankowitz and Guido Harari. Taken images from 1978 and 1993 respectively, I am sort of going in the middle for this part. I might extend this feature and include another seven photos. I just had to feature John Carder Bush’s cover shot for her 1985 album, Hounds of Love. It is hard not to double up when it comes to iconic images and the three photographers I have named. It is unsurprising that her brother had the deepest connection and could get the best shots. I think that, as he had been photographing her since she was a child, by the time it came to Hounds of Love, he had this decades-long experience and knowledge of what his sister was like and how to get the best shot. Even though, as I will show with an outtake, it was not easy to get the hugely memorable shot of Kate Bush and the two dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, the final image is spectacular! Carder Bush is responsible for more than one Kate Bush album cover. My other favourite is the image from the cover of The Dreaming. Bush, playing Houdini’s wife (Del Palmer plays Houdini), has a gold key in her mouth that she is going to pass to her escapologist husband.
It relates to the song, Houdini, from the album, and it is a wonderful shot. Like Gered Mankowitz did with Bush in 1978 during their first session where she was in a pink leotard and gave a very mature, thoughtful and intriguingly beautiful expression…forward seven years later and a more grown-up and elegant-looking artist is captured similarly thoughtful. In this case, Bush’s face is happier. I think that recording Hounds of Love marked a moment when things did improve in terms of stress levels and creative happiness. One gets a sense of home and the embrace of family pets. Aside from that, there is something elegant, classical and humorous about the photo. I can only imagine how tough it was to get two large dogs (who would been excitable) to lay still so that the photo could be taken! An image from the Hounds of Love cover shoot can seen on the cover of John Carder Bush’s photobook, KATE: Inside the Rainbow. He clearly has a lot of affection for that shoot and capturing his sister at that time. She was happy. I can imagine he was happy for her. It could have been easy to conceive a literal interpretation of the album’s title and do something memorable or misguided. Instead, Carder Bush seems to capture everything about the album in that single shot! The colour choice of purples is very apt. It is quite warming and striking.
If you were to assign colours to represent moods and tones of albums, purples and golds can be applied to Hounds of Love. Even though there are dark and stormy moments, there is this feeling of hope, passion and rebirth. Bush, as an artist, I always see as the protagonist of the album’s second side, The Ninth Wave. That heroine is adrift at sea and struggles to stay sane and alive before she is eventually rescued. In terms of metaphors, I see that as Bush pushing herself professionally and attempting to get back to a former life and security. Hounds of Love is like Bush being rescued and having this new lease of life. I am going to end with an interview from Attitude. They spoke with John Carder Bush about the book, KATE: Inside the Rainbow, and snapping his sister through the years. It is interesting what he said about her approach to being photographed – and what the Hounds of Love era was like:
“One thing that strikes me, looking through the book, is her willingness to try different things - poses, props, costumes etc - in the pursuit of a great shot. Did either of you take the lead in those situations, or was it quite a 50/50 partnership? I think this is dictated by two different things. With album and single shots, there is a very specific intention to project a persona that matches the songs; with promotional shots, variety becomes very important otherwise every session would have looked the same. With album and single sessions, Kate always had a very definite idea of what she wanted before she stepped in front of the camera and it was a question of trying to realise that in a photographic context.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
In the book, you mention Hounds of Love being a favourite record - it’s the album with perhaps the most iconic artwork of Kate’s career. What is it for you that makes that album / period a particular favourite? Hounds of Love seems to me to demonstrate the perfect combination of Kate’s power and ability to be able to operate successfully in the world of popular music, and at the same time create something iconic like The Ninth Wave that transcends the throwaway nature of the charts. I also had a lot more involvement with that album executively and creatively, and writing and performing the poetry section on the song Jig of Life meant that I had many happy memories of that time”.
Even though John Carder Bush photographed his sister from the 1960s through to the 2010s, I think he would still hold the mid-1980s as his favourite time. Seeing his siter being recognised around the world and making some of the best music of her career would have given him so much inspiration. The shoot for the Hounds of Love cover would have been quite long; it was a game of patience. Looking at some of the outtakes, you can see that there was a lot of fun there too! Among all of the great and iconic shots taken of Kate Bush, the 1985 shot that appears on Hounds of Love’s cover ranks alongside the absolute best. The captivating and beautiful photo that we see on the cover of Hounds of Love is…
AN image that says so much.