FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Iconic Shots
PHOTO CREDIT: Clive Arrowsmith
‘Symphony in Blue’, 1981 (Clive Arrowsmith)
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THERE are actually two…
IN THIS PHOTO: Clive Arrowsmith
iconic and marvellous Clive Arrowsmith shots that I could have included here. The one I have chosen is one of the most beautifully-shot and composed photos. It is a brilliant shot with a fascinating background. I will pop in the second photo before the end. A veritable symphony in blue, I love how Bush looks in the photo. The expression on her face is a little glum. As Arrowsmith recalls on his website, there was a reason for that:
“Kate Bush came the famous Holborn Studios in London for a shoot for Hearst Magazines who had asked me to take cover photograph for their new magazine Company. Kate was very definitely the woman of the moment at that time and her career was going from strength to strength all over the world.
She said very little when she arrived and looked a little sad. Not everyone enjoys promoting their music be doing shoots and I appreciate that. Most performers love it but some find it a necessary evil. I was immediately struck by her striking looks. I sent the stylist out to get strong theatrical gauze, in different colours, while Kate’s make up was being done, and I asked for some strands of Ivy (more on that in a moment).
Kate was very easy to work with and a calm silence pervaded her while we all worked, after hair and make, I got the stylist to help me by fiddling around with the shape of the blue gauze which I wanted to surround her face. I set up a blue light behind her, to surround her in blue and to enhance the blue gauze, which contrasted with the red of her lips and her hazel. She was not animated in front of the camera, hardly varying her facial expression while I was shooting, maybe it was me, or she genuinely found it difficult being in front of the camera. I felt as if she was just enduring the shoot, or that she must have something sad thing on her mind.
PHOTO CREDIT: Clive Arrowsmith
She spoke very little, and then in quite voice and just obey my request that she move this of that way. After the blue image my team and myself hung the Ivy from a boom over her head I directed the hairdresser from my camera viewfinder to refine the ivy strand arrangement. I asked Kate to hold the pose and we got the shot below.
I asked the Magazine Editor why she was so silent and contemplative, she told me later she was upset by something that had happen that morning before she came to the studio. We never found out what it was and I don’t suppose it matters, but you do feel an etherial sadness in these pictures which to this day I find totally captivating. When you are shooting portraits you have to take people as you find them in that moment so I did try and reflect the wistful and ethereal feeling I got from her. I had been very excited to meet her and had been listening to her music the evening before. Kate is a totally genuine musical artist and these images also capture that very serious aspect of her talent. Although these could be seen as fashion or beauty images Kate’s presence adds such a depth of feeling that they have become an artwork in themselves. Even though I spent that time with her I still feel she is a complete enigma and that I know, no more or less than I did from listening to her music”.
There are so many great photos of Kate Bush. I think that Clive Arrowsmith’s shot captured Bush on a hard day, but it is actually quite mysterious – as we do not know why she was sad. Looking elegant, gorgeous and wide-eyed, it is one of the very best. What Arrowsmith produced in 1981 is…
SUCH a magnificent photo.