During lockdown 1.0 I was able to indulge in looking through old negative archive images and start the mega task of scanning some of them. At this time I made friends with the incredible people who put together the David Bowie glamour fanzine  David Bowie: Glamour is a high quality, lavishly illustrated high end coffee table magazine.

Andy at DBGF had asked me if they could use some of my images and interview me about the time I was commissioned by David Bowie's management to photograph the rehearsals at the Hanover Grand in London for his upcoming 50th birthday tour. 

The whole experience was incredible and pretty nerve wracking too.  I had been working with Placebo since their beginnings and Mr Bowie who was a huge fan of the band was aware of the  work I had created with them. It felt like I'd been summoned to the court of Bowie to photograph his Royal Highness and I was truly humbled. 

I managed to hold it together when I first met him, he was incredibly calm, charming and respectful. 

He was very generous with his respect for me as a photographer which actually made me feel more nervous. Sometimes when someone has complete trust and faith in you there is more of a responsibility to really come up with the goods, yikes.

 I was given free reign to set up my lights on the stage and photograph David in rehearsals and explore small set ups with the band who were there rehearsing, I was able to capture some amazing images of Gail Ann Dorsey and Reeves Gabrels with David in the middle.

It was while revisiting these scans and doing my interview with the Glamour fanzine that I found this image of David sitting on the stage. I put it on my socials and Mark at David Bowie official saw my image and showed it to Parlophone who were looking to release a selection of live albums via Liveandwell.com  

 My shot worked beautifully for the cover and the album is being released next week in lockdown 3.0 on 15th January. you can find more information here

On this day 8th January, David’s birthday, I am very proud to be featured on this release in this his birthday month. Happy birthday to a true master of his own image and a gentleman no less.

If you haven’t seen it, you can watch the full version of his 1997 Madison Square 50th birthday show here. It features a vey special an all star guest line up.

You can see some of my archive images here and limited edition prints are available of some of these images. 

Finally my friends at Hypergallery have an exciting Bowie exhibition online or by appt only, have a look at the online gallery here.