FEATURE:
Kate Bush, From Three Different Perspectives…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978 (in the ‘Hollywood’ shot)/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Gathering Together Guido Harari, Gered Mankowitz and John Carder Bush
_________
THESE three…
IN THIS PHOTO: A young Kate Bush (Cathy) photographed by her brother, John Carder Bush (this image is available in his book, Cathy)
kings I have named above all have a different relationship with the divine Kate Bush. Guido Harari is someone who captured Kate Bush at an interesting period in her career. From around 1982 through to 1993, Bush had produced her first album solo (The Dreaming) and then went on to release her masterpiece, Hounds of Love, in 1985. By 1993, she was in her mid-thirties and her sound had changed. She was about to go on a career hiatus. Capturing those transformations, events and changes would have been fascinating for Harari. Wall of Sound Gallery have a link where you can buy The Kate Inside. Many of Guido Harari’s wonderful photos of Kate Bush that show unique and beguiling sides of her. In 2016, Harari was interviewed by The Guardian about an extraordinary decade shooting Kate Bush:
“Any other star,” says Guido Harari, “would have gone crazy. They’d have probably thrown me out.” It was 1am one night in 1989 and the Italian had been photographing Kate Bush non-stop for 15 hours. “We hadn’t eaten. We weren’t really talking. Just shoot, costume change, more makeup, shoot, costume change, more makeup, shoot.” You worked in silence? “Yes. It was like we had telepathic communication.”
Bush had asked Harari to do the official photo shoot for her new album The Sensual World. And then, in the early hours, Harari had a bright idea. “I thought she looked like the figurehead of a ship. So I would make her look as though she was swimming towards the camera underwater.”
Harari decided to create this image by shooting Bush in a Romeo Gigli dress in front of a rented painted backdrop that looked like a Pollock painting. Then he would ask her to step out of the shot, rewind the film on his Hasselblad camera and shoot the backdrop again, making it look like she was a swimming through a submarine world of drips and blobs.
And then he had another idea. Why not have two images of Kate Bush on the same frame? “And then I thought: why only two Kates? Why not three Kates – all swimming in the water? She had to stand really still so she wouldn’t go out of focus because I was using a wide aperture, so there was no depth of field. She had to walk out of the shot, then back in, stand very still, and do the same again. I knew it was going to be great but it was going to take time and patience – and you don’t get either often from famous people when you’re photographing them.”
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on a trampoline in 1993 during filming of The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Isn’t that when her PR minder should have intervened and said: Guido, enough already? “Well yes! But there was no minder. She was never part of what she called the machine.” As we chat, Harari shows me shots from his new book The Kate Inside, which documents his 10 years photographing the British pop star. It shows her wearing a T-shirt that says: I am a prima donna. “My God,” he says. “I’ve worked with some real prima donnas, not to mention any names. She wasn’t one of them.” Indeed, there is a copy of her handwritten thank you note which says: “You’ve made me look great.”
Harari has made his name over the years with disarmingly odd images of musicians. Leonard Cohen asleep on a little table before a huge painting; Tom Waits strutting in an improbably voluminous cape; Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed in a moment of tenderness, her nuzzling nose disappearing into his open shirt. Harari was a Kate Bush fan from the first time he heard her first single, Wuthering Heights, on the radio in 1978. “She was a pioneer, especially in Britain where no solo female artist had had a number one-selling album until she came along. And you had the sense that, despite her wistful manner, she had balls of steel.”
The photographer first met her in 1982 in Milan, when she was promoting her album The Dreaming. In the book he describes his first impressions: “Beautiful golden eyes, pouty lips, a big mane of hennaed hair.” Bush and her dancers had just come from a TV studio. “She was wearing what looked like decaying astronaut gear,” he recalls. “I had my equipment with me, so I asked them to improvise. What amazed me was how she switched. She seemed to be this shy girl then suddenly this wild beast came out. ”
In Milan, Harari showed her proofs for a new book he was making about Lindsay Kemp. The choreographer had trained the teenage Kate Bush in the mid-1970s, becoming a mentor to her, as he had been for David Bowie. “So my book was like a calling card – showing her that I understood where she was coming from artistically.”
Choreographer Lindsay Kemp, with Kate Bush in curlers, during the filming of The Line, The Cross and the Curve. Photograph: Guido Harari
Three years later, Bush called, asking if he would do the official shoot for her album Hounds of Love. “I went to meet her at her parents’ farmhouse in Kent. She had built a 48-track studio. One thing that really struck me was that there was no glass between the control room and where the musicians recorded. It was a place of silence and retreat from the rock’n’roll world. She had no desire to go to parties or be famous. Instead, she had her family around her. Her father was her manager and her brother had taken photos for her previous albums.”
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
For the Hounds of Love shoot, Bush told Harari that she would bring clothes that would be brown, blue and gold. “Nothing else! No other clues! So I got some backdrops I thought would go with those colours, and at 8am she turned up at the studio with her makeup woman and a few outfits and we went to work.”
Most of the photographs in Harari’s book have never been seen before. “There are lots of outtakes. What would happen is, at the end of the day, I’d have hundreds of rolls of film which I’d edit and then send to Kate. She’d send, say, four images to the record company. What nobody has seen until now is the progress through the day’s shoot. They really give a sense of her. The way she’s goofy one minute and then posing the next.”
After doing the photography for Hounds of Love and The Sensual World, in 1993 Harari was asked to be the stills photographer for her 50-minute film The Line, The Cross and the Curve starring Miranda Richardson, Lindsay Kemp and Bush, and showcasing songs from Bush’s album The Red Shoes. “It was a great invitation because I could be a fly on the wall. No fancy set ups, just me recording what was happening.” He’s particularly proud of his shot of Bush asleep on set in her curlers with Kemp posing behind her head. “I know she was disappointed in the film, she maybe thought it was a flop - not commercially but for her. So the photos were never published.”
That shoot marked the end of their collaboration, but there could have been another chapter. In 1998, Bush phoned Harari and asked if he would photograph her with guitarist Danny McIntosh and their newborn son, Bertie. “I said, ‘No. This is a private moment, keep it as it is”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993 whilst filming The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Before moving to the second incredible photographer, we get new perspectives and angles from this Amateur Photographer interview with a masterful photographer who took some of the most iconic and enduring images of Kate Bush. Bringing something out of her that nobody else has or ever will. It makes me wonder whether we will get promotional photos of Kate Bush when she does release her eleventh studio album. Will it be her brother, John Carder Bush, who is charged with that?! Guido Harari’s collaboration with Kate Bush is truly astonishing:
“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.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush taking a nap during the filming of The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
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”.
I am getting interviews from each of the three photographers before coming to an idea. The second I want to include is Gered Mankowitz. Through his partnership with Kate Bush was shorter – between 1978 and 1979 – than what Guido Harari enjoyed, his images are no less important. That debut album period. Capturing Kate Bush when she was just starting out. Shots that launched her into the world. His coffee table book, WOW!, like Harari’s The Kate Inside, is essential and I would advise people to buy it. I would recommend people listen to this BBC archive from 2015, where Gered Mankowitz discussed working with Kate Bush. He also photographed The Rolling Stones. An interview I have brought in before, Big Issue chatted with Gered Mankowitz in 2014 about his work with Kate Bush:
“I was brought in to create the launch image for Wuthering Heights and I think what makes Kate brilliant is her unique talent, her extraordinary energy, her vision – everything she does has a tremendous vision.
I remember her to be somebody who worked very hard. She was very young, 19, when it came out and she was wonderful to work with. Very energetic, very frenetic, quite difficult to tie down sometimes, to get her to focus on making an idea work, she wasn’t very experienced in having her photograph taken at that time, which was part of the challenge. But her individuality shone through.
I don’t think I had to draw it out of her, it was there, it was bubbling out of her. When I first went to the record company to discuss the session she wasn’t there but they played the video of Wuthering Heights that they’d made. It was quite obvious that she was a unique and special talent, not just because the music was so extraordinary but because of her individual look, her beauty and movement and style.
She had a really special quality, which stood out instantly on record and visually. I knew that I had to be at the top of my game to produce an image that was going to complement and support this extraordinary talent, and that’s what I tried to do. I always try to break these things down so that they are as simple as possible.
I had to be at the top of my game to produce an image that was going to complement and support this extraordinary talent
I only had a very loose connection with the record company. They already had a cover for the album The Kick Inside, but they didn’t have an image of Kate, it was quite obscure and it wasn’t as up-front of Kate as they wanted it to be. But I sense that they weren’t quite sure where they were going with her.
What they seemed very certain of was here was a unique and special talent and that they had somebody who was pure gold, but they were being led by her and I think that they weren’t sure who they were getting.
I wouldn’t want to suggest that she was in control of our session, but she was very much in control of the way she looked when she stepped out of the dressing room and I saw her for the first time ready for the camera I was blown away and knew it was going to be something special.
We did the very famous leotard pictures. I chose the leotards to make visual link with dance, that was the point of choosing and selecting them, I wanted to keep it extremely simple, I hope that in the portrait there would be a visual connection with dance which was clearly very important to her.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
During the same session we reproduced the image of Wuthering Heights that she’d recorded for the video because everybody wanted stills of that but in those days they just couldn’t take them from the film. She did the whole dance for me. [Big Issue: “Wow!” Gered: “Wow indeed!”]. The only thing I didn’t have was the dry ice she had in the video, but it was spectacular.
We did four big photo sessions together between January 1978 and March or April 1979 and dance was always very high up on the list and a lot of the pictures we did are her moving, her different leotards, leaping, spinning, dancing and expressing herself like that and that was so important and trying to capture that in a very graphic way.
She could just look at the camera you would melt. You sense that she was really special and felt Wuthering Heights was going to be a big hit and I know that EMI was going to really get behind it. What nobody knew was how huge she would be and how important.
I had worked with a lot of people who had become incredibly successful for one reason or another – The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, who had that same charisma and presence as Kate, as did Annie Lennox and Suzi Quattro. What you recognise is talent and charisma but that doesn’t necessarily turn into longevity.
We know you’re going to move from one single, one album to the next and hope that the artist and everything in their support structure around them is going to remain intact and supportive, and that the artist will build a fan base that is solid enough to support them.
The one thing that was very clear was here was a very individual and unique special artist. There’s always terrible pressure on people especially if your first record is a huge hit. I don’t think that any of her records have been as big as Wuthering Heights but she’s big enough, talented enough and clever enough not to be overwhelmed by the success.
She would appear to be completely in control of her career, and she’s managed to maintain her privacy. When she makes an appearance [in public] she’s thought about it, and considered it, and the response to it is always huge.
The one picture that in a way is inescapable is the pink leotard Wuthering Heights picture. It’s one of those pictures that become iconic and represents so much, and that doesn’t happen very often. It has a life of its own and it has energy. I think it’s a beautiful portrait of a very beautiful young woman.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
The Big Issue: There has been discussion over the years whether her sexuality was being exploited – depending how it’s cropped, it’s quite graphic…
Gered: It didn’t occur to me at that time that [the nipples visible in the full-length shot] would be a problem. I know that it was pretty edgy for the late ’70s but it wasn’t sort of discussed or thought about a great deal. That was how she looked and I wasn’t going to say to her “I think you should cover up”.
She looked absolutely gorgeous. I’m looking at a cropped version of it now and it still has all the power that it did then. Her breasts might have been titillating to a few young boys but her beauty and her serenity, her stillness are what really make this a special photograph.
She used her sexuality throughout her performance
She certainly knew what she was doing, that’s how she came out of the dressing room, looking like that, and there was no attempt by anybody to make her look like that. That’s what she looked like and I don’t think it’s exploitative at all. I think it’s very, very beautiful.
I’m the photographer and I took that picture, and I don’t see how I could have exploited Kate Bush. She was in control of it.
But she used her sexuality throughout her performance – look at the Babooshka video or any of the records and promotional videos and stills, certainly in those first three or four years of her career she was a very sexual person and I think that came across in the way she moved, looked and the way she sang.
For me that makes any discussion or debate about whether the picture was ‘exploitative’ redundant. She wasn’t like Miley Cyrus trying to draw attention to herself through her sexuality. She’s a very strong woman and as a strong woman you know that she’s aware of everything that’s around her and I completely reject any possibility that the pictures were exploitative, it reflects her beauty and her power and serenity, and her comfortableness with it.
The Big Issue: It’s such a direct portrait, you feel like you know her, her face looks so open but she’s not giving anything away, it gives you chills still to look at it now.
Gered: It often is the case that in the beginning when an artist makes a really profound impact it’s often their first moments that are sort of welded into the public consciousness and that’s one of the most gratifying things. Going back to my favourite image, I’m incredibly proud and thrilled to have been associated with Kate Bush at this early stage. It’s fantastic to hear you say that [above] about it”.
John Carder Bush has the longest creative relationship with Kate Bush. As her brother, he began taking photos of her when she was a small child. You can see shots of Bush as a young girl. Although it is another expensive purchase, we do get these rare and heart-warmingly intimate photographs taken at and around East Wickham Farm – the family home where Bush resided until her career started to take off. You can also purchase KATE: Inside the Rainbow. It is a fascinating book that every Kate Bush fan should own:
“Stunning and unique images from throughout Kate Bush's career including:
Outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from The Dreaming and Hounds of Love sessions
Rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including 'Army Dreamers' and 'Running Up that Hill'
Includes original essays from Kate's brother:
From Cathy to Kate: Describes in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the whirlwind days of Kate's career
Chasing the Shot: A vivid evocation of John's experience of photographing his sister
'For me, each of these images forms part of a golden thread that shoots through the visual tapestry of Kate's remarkable career. Storytelling has always been the heartbeat of Kate's body of work, and it has been a privilege to capture these photographic illustrations that accompany those magical tales' John Carder Bush”.
I want to come to my idea. Whether it is a podcast or a filmed episode, getting three photographers together who, between them, have taken dozens of images of Kate Bush and contributed massively to her career, would be a treat for fans! In 2017, Attitude interviewed John Carder Bush about a lifetime photographing his sister. That incredible access to someone he has shot as a child, right through to an older woman for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. I am sure the two are not done yet:
“But while Kate certainly steers the ship, there are a core group of creatives helping her to realise each aspect of her ambitious musical projects – from her epic 2005 masterwork Aerial, to last year’s spectacular Before The Dawn live residency.
Key in this inner circle is Kate’s older brother, the photographer and writer John Carder Bush. John headed the Kate Bush management team for twenty years and since her early childhood, and throughout her career, he has photographed his little sister both candidly and professionally. His images have appeared on album, single and magazine covers worldwide. That instantly iconic Hounds Of Love album cover? He was behind the lens.
To coincide with Before The Dawn, last year John published a new edition of Cathy, his collection of photographs of his younger sister as a little girl. What’s been sorely lacking, though, is a catalogue of this remarkably visual artist’s career to date. Until now.
Kate: Inside The Rainbow is a collection of beautiful images from throughout her career, from her early days pre-Wuthering Heights right up to her most recent album, 2011’s 50 Words For Snow. It includes outtakes from classic album shoots, rare studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, plus many other candid shots from John’s years turning the camera on his sister.
Basically, Kate Bush fans: here’s your new bible. John Carder Bush himself tells Attitude about this amazing project, some 40-odd years in the making…
John, Kate – Inside The Rainbow is just gorgeous. Why did now feel like the right time to put a book like this together?
I think the timing of this book was dictated by the reprint of Cathy [last year]. So many people had shown an interest in that book long after it went out of print, and it seemed logical to see what would happen if I brought it up to date. Originally, when I published Cathy back in 1986, I had planned to do three books – Cathy, Catherine and Kate, but like so many ambitious plans, it never happened.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the photoshoot for Babooshka (1980)PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Let’s start with those earliest photos you took of your sister, the ones that formed the book Cathy. Was it a case of your little sister being an easy subject to practice on, or were you aware even in those early days that there was a ‘star quality’ to her?
In those days I had only just started to feel that the camera could evoke something I wanted to express about childhood and the world of the imagination that so many children live in. I was also excited by my personal discovery of the pre-Raphaelites and had started collecting illustrated books of the turn of the century, which nobody was interested in in the early sixties and could be bought for next to nothing. My little sister was the perfect model, and although I was pleased with the results, I don’t think I detected star quality – we were a long way away from the her future career; when you know someone so well and see them every day of your life, you just don’t notice that kind of thing, although looking at them now it is quite clear she had something special.
This feels about as close to an ‘official’ retrospective book of Kate’s career as we might get. What are her thoughts on it?
I first discussed the book with Kate back in the summer of 2014. The live shows then swept her away for a few months. When I had done a preliminary selection of photos and written the text, I showed them to her for her comments and I then worked with her final selection of images for the rest of the project. As I remember, she pointed out that she had ten ‘O’ levels, when I had put nine.
When you look through the images in the book, do you see changes develop as the years go on? There’s a sophistication that seems to really develop in Kate’s imagery from Hounds of Love onwards…
Yes, I agree. You can see the development in the sense that she becomes more expert at conscious projection, more confident in knowing what works and what does not, and I think the same thing applies to my photography.
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.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2011 for Director’s Cut/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.
There is a big time gap in the book from The Red Shoes to Director’s Cut – eighteen years between photos. How had things changed when you went back to photographing Kate after all those years?
The big difference was that I was photographing her face and not her feet! But, seriously, nothing seemed any different except the machinery I was using; digital and not analogue. And, of course, she now had a son who was popping in to see what was going on, whereas it used to be the other way round.
I loved reading your thoughts on Before The Dawn – it was the sort of thing fans couldn’t really have imagined would ever happen. Do you have any idea where Kate’s headed next? New music, or a continuation of Before The Dawn perhaps?
The silence that usually surrounds Kate between projects in a ‘golden silence’, and out of that ‘golden silence’ always comes a golden nugget of creativity, like Before the Dawn. Let’s wait and see…
Before the Dawn was really the first big opportunity for many Kate Bush fans to interact, to feel part of a community. Have you had much interaction with Kate Bush fans over the years?
There has always been a very active and fertile fan scene around Kate and her music even when there has not been any new product for a few years. Kate fans are very dedicated people, and the depth and originality of her work has allowed them to maintain an ongoing dialogue with each other that is quite unique. Certainly, Before the Dawn was a wonderfully dynamic coming together of that energy, and sitting in the audience I could feel their love for her as an overwhelming presence. Over the years, I have developed some friendships with a few of her fans that I value highly”.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
I will wrap up soon. We have heard words and perspectives from three incredible photographers. John Carder Bush and Gered Mankowitz working with Kate Bush from 1978 (and before). Although John Carder Bush did not take many promotional photos in 1978, he was involved with the album cover for Lionheart (1978). His pre-1978 photos and what he took of Kate Bush for her album covers and videos from Lionheart onwards are exceptional. Guido Harari came to Kate Bush later but got to chart one of the most important and interesting periods of her career. From The Dreaming through to The Red Shoes and The Line, the Cross and the Curve. John Carder Bush photographing Bush for her most recent album. Although there has been some interaction between the three photographers and each have provided interviews where they spoke about working with Bush and what that was like, it would be great to have all three together. Where they can bring their photobooks and shots. They can dissect and discuss working with Kate Bush. With John Carder Bush the most experienced, he could begin looking through the photos in Cathy. What it was like capturing his sister in the 1960s and beyond. Charting a period where she was unknown but obviously had something special about her. How that perspective and dynamic changed as he was photographing the Hounds of Love cover. Taking us all the way through to 2011, nobody else has the same legacy when it come to committing Kate Bush to film. I would like to hear more from Gered Mankowitz and his take. An experienced photographer by 1978, he has worked with some titans and music greats. It seems he got something from Kate Bush that he did not from any other artist in terms of the looks and magnetism. Some of his shots are truly fascinating and unforgettable. From the pink leotard shot that was going to be used for the Wuthering Heights cover to the black-and-white ‘Hollywood’ portrait, this is someone who shot Kate Bush as she was in her teens and then just in her twenties.
A remarkable series of photos where we can see Kate Bush grow and change. Mixing bold and energetic shots with more sensual, intimate and grounded, his portfolio is well worth exploring. He could also discuss his book and select some of his favourite photos. It would suggest a visual medium. A filmed episode where we could get some examination of these images. Bringing in Guido Harari, who got to photographer Kate Bush too during Hounds of Love. Alongside John Carder Bush, getting some remarkable images of Kate Bush. I especially love his photos from 1989 when The Sensual World was released. John Carder Bush also took some stunning shots then, so the two could swap notes. Those candid and behind-the-scenes images from The Line, the Cross and the Curve. I would also be intrigued to know what it was like on that set. Hearing from John Carder Bush about how the photoshoots unfold. How many notes his sister gives him. We could explore some of the studios and locations where the photos were taken. If there are particular cinematic or visual references that are in the photos. Whilst we examine Kate Bush’s albums and videos, few people take the time to discuss the photography. Images that are as powerful and meaningful as the music and visuals, they not only help to market Kate Bust and chart her evolution; they are also these time capsules and phenomenal images that will live forever. They tell stories and show different sides to Bush that you cannot get from her music, videos or interviews. Getting these experienced photographers together to talk about how it felt capturing Kate Bush at different times. How they feel about the images now. Whether John Carder Bush will take more photos of his sister. Fans old and new alike would benefit from a programme (or filmed podcast) where we hear about Kate Bush’s photographic allure from…
THREE points of view.