FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Iconic Shots
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the filming of the 1993 short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
‘The Trampoline Shot’, 1993 (Guido Harari)
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IT is only a matter of time…
IN THIS PHOTO: Guido Harari, Kate Bush and Lindsay Kemp during the filming of The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
before I include a photo in this series from Kate Bush’s brother, John Carder Bush. Not only did he have the most intimate relationship with her (as a photographer); he snapped his sister from her childhood right through to 2011. There are prominent photographers who worked with Bush a number of times. Guido Harari is one of them. I love his shots of Bush around the time of The Sensual World (1989), through to 1993 when she recorded The Red Shoes and released the short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve (Harari actually shot her between 1982 and 1993). To be honest, there are half a dozen other shots I could have included as a prime example of his skill – and the trusting and productive relationship between he and Kate Bush. One photograph that I really love was from 1993. Bush was bouncing on a trampoline and rehearsing for The Line, the Cross and the Curve. She would appear on a trampoline in the U.K. video for Rubberband Girl (from The Red Shoes). The composition of the shot you can see at the top of this feature is sublime! I love Bush’s expression and the people in the background – nonchalantly looking on; unaware that they would be seen by countless people all of these years later. Harari had a way of bringing something extra-special and deep from Kate Bush. Capturing her mid-air whilst she seemed so happy and carefree is one of my all-time favourite snaps of her. I may include other shots that Guido Harari took of Kate Bush.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush relaxed in the make-up chair whilst filming for The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
I wanted to start with such an eye-catching and smile-inducing shot. The child-like wonder of Bush as she is flightless, rehearsing is joyful! Maybe she had been on that trampoline for a while, or she may just have got on. I am not too sure. In 2016, Guido Harari was interviewed by Amateur Photographer about meeting Kate Bush and working with her:
“You worked for a while with the mime artist and choreographer Lindsay Kemp – how did that come about?
In 1979 Lindsay became really huge in Italy. I had been working as a photographer for about seven years then, and was intrigued by theatre and knew about his work with Bowie and Kate Bush. I thought I’d go and see his performances and bring the camera along. I started taking pictures of him for an Italian magazine and there were so many images to choose from, Lindsay suggested that we could start working on a book.
I started travelling on and off with the company and photographing the productions, shooting backstage, candid photos, travelling shots: really in-depth reportage. In 1982 our book was published in Italy: that was Lindsay’s first major book and it was also my first major book.
How did you end up collaborating with Kate Bush?
I had a chance to meet Kate when she was promoting The Dreaming, her fourth album, while she was in Italy. I showed her the book and she was very excited by it and agreed to be photographed. So that book started the whole collaboration, which I had with her for ten years.
What was Kate like to work with?
When she called me up in 1985 to do her official promo photos for Hounds of Love, I was surprised to find that she didn’t want to explore any major concepts. She was very impressed with the photos I’d taken of Lindsay, which were very natural photos, not contrived or too posey, so she wanted me to capture something authentic; she didn’t want me to turn her again into a diva or icon, she wanted me to find a different approach.
She would come to the studio, just with her make-up artist and a bunch of clothes and no major briefing, nobody around like managers or agents, so it was really like shooting a friend. Not much conversation – total concentration. Her focus was incredible. We would shoot for 12 or 15 hours straight. It was amazing.
Kate Bush is famous for being obsessive about having full control of everything that she does, but I had the feeling she would let me go as far as I wanted to go.
So a lot of the photographs were unplanned beforehand?
Yes, that’s basically how it was. She would just bring clothes that she felt comfortable in, you know, a kimono, some casual clothes, some very colourful things that had a nice texture, and it was very much improvised. It was very much ‘let’s use these key elements and see how far we can go’. That happened on the 1985 shoot for Hounds of Love and in 1989 for The Sensual World, and then the last shoot from that period was in 1993 on the set of the film The Line, the Cross & the Curve.
What was it like being on the set of her film?
That was the most memorable opportunity I had with her, as she had stopped performing live during her first tour in ’79, so to be on the set of her film gave me chance to take performance shots and also to do some reportage, like I had done with Lindsay.
Again, she didn’t restrict me in any way. I was able to shoot everything I saw, which was very unusual for her, and in the end we had an impressive amount of photos. That part of my archives of Kate has never been seen, as she retired for 12 years just after that, so the images became instantly became passé in a way.
What kind of director was she?
I have been on sets with Italian directors and unless you are the official photographer, you are always in the way of somebody so you feel like you have to beg to get pictures, but with Kate it was like, OK, you are free to do whatever you want.
I could sit very close to her with a wideangle and she would rarely look at the camera unless I asked her to, she was really natural. She was totally absorbed in her work because she was also not just acting in the movie but also directing. She had just two weeks to complete the filming. Then she wanted to edit it very quickly in order to bring the film to the London Film Festival, so there was a lot of pressure on that side.
But at the same time she had the ability to gather a group of collaborators around her, that she felt very comfortable with, so there was really no tension having to finish quickly, it was really free flowing.
What made you decide to publish your new book of your photoshoots with Kate?
The idea of the book came about twoyears ago when she announced new concerts for the first time in 35 years. We had a first show in London at the Snap gallery, with mine and Gered Mankowitz’s photos, who had shot the first two album covers.
There was a lot of interest in my work from the fans. We had published a small catalogue for the exhibition, but it was soon very clear that fans wanted more.
I thought I would use all the pictures from all the shoots and present them in a sequence to give people an idea of how a shoot can start very slowly, and then peak and go down, because we get tired, and then we’ll have another peak of creative energy and then it dies down. It’s a dynamic that you rarely get to see because photographers will offer their hero shots and forget about everything else.
It is also intersecting to see in a sequence of pictures how Kate would go from a laugh to a joke and then get her diva expression, and then all of a sudden crack up again with a joke and so you see moments that usually get discarded when you edit a photoshoot because they don’t promote the artist, but do make interesting events in the book”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a goofy moment whilst filming The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Although I have included other photos in this feature to flesh out and illustrate the bond and working relationship between Kate Bush and Guido Harari, it is that one shot that sticks in my mind. As Bush was photographed a lot through her career, there are so many photos available. Many were press photos or shoots that seemed to be quite simple or unimaginative. When she worked with photographers like Gered Mankjowitz or Guido Harari (or her brother), something potentially routine was elevated into art. Whether it was a shot of her looking natural or caught unaware or something orchestrated or posed, she gave something to these photographers that has resonated through the years! One reason why I love ‘the trampoline shot’ (it is not its official name; just what I am calling it!) is because it captures a very care-free and playful moment. Yet it is shot so beautifully! One is arrested by the composition and the expressions. If it were in colour or black-and-white, perhaps it would not be as striking or beautiful. Even though it was taken in 1993, it looks like it could have been from the 1960s! The Guardian produced some other photos from the time. Harari was asked to be stills photographer on-set of The Line, the Cross and the Curve, and he caught some wonderfully memorable off-duty moments, “which never saw the light of day, as Bush considered the film a flop”. I think those photos show the silliness and light-hearted nature of Kate Bush – shooting a film which seemed quite full-on and intense! The trampoline shot, to me, is the magnificent Kate Bush…
SHOT to perfection.