From Minneapolis with Power

For HELLO, I LOVE YOU, you picked photos from the 70s, 80s and 90s, why choose from these decades alone?

Actually, there are four photographs taken in the last decade too. The majority of the photographs were taken in the early 1980s because that was when I was out almost every night taking photographs. I just slowed down a bit in the 1990s through to now. I originally thought (and still think) the concept would be a bit stronger if it had just been kept to the 1980s but the publishers said I should include the more recent ones too because they’re good photographs.

How do you feel about the differences between the effect of film and theconvenience of digital photography?

I feel liberated. Back in the days when I had a young family, I spent far too much of my time in a darkroom. Some days, I could spend hours working on just one print and the next day, when the print was dry, I might decide I didn’t even like it. 30 years of working in a darkroom is more than enough for one lifetime.

How does taking more candid style photography compare to taking photos for celebrities or brands?

Taking candid photographs of young people on the street or in clubs is essentially reportage. One can only really photograph what one sees and one needs to effect those situations as little as possible.

Photographing celebrities for magazines is the complete opposite, especially if there are time constraints (and there usually are). One needs to be proactive, take charge and always have a plan.

Photographing for brands is different again insofar as usually someone else - a client or creative director - has the plan, often in the form of a moodboard.

Do you think it’s more challenging to get candid style photography in an age where anyone can be photographed at any time?

I would say that it’s probably more challenging because everyone knows everyone else has a camera. One can’t really do anything in public anymore that you wouldn’t want the world to know about.

But in truth, not many of the photographs in my book were genuinely candid anyway. The majority of the couples I photographed knew I was there and they just ignored me. Working with flash in a dark nightclub is certainly going to get you noticed.

Could you tell us about an interesting anecdote from one of the photographs in this book?

Not really. I want the photographs themselves to provide the anecdote. I was just a fly on the wall. With a few of the couples in the book, I knew them and I’d met them before. But the vast majority, I only ever saw them that once and had no idea who they were. I knew nothing at all about them.

But kissing and cuddling is quite a universal thing. I think that’s what’s so nice about it. I don’t know anyone’s specific story but I really don’t think I need to. The story can take place in the imagination of the viewer.

Does reminiscing on your earlier work inspire you to follow that candid and romantic style again or to do something completely different?

Most of the photographs in the book were taken over 40 years ago and to be honest, my style hasn’t changed much at all. I think you’d be hard pushed to see any stylistic difference between a photograph I took 40 years ago and one I took last week. Apart from the presence of tattoos. Almost all young people are tattooed these days.

And other than when I’m being asked questions about it, I don’t do a whole lot of reminiscing.

Finally, how do you see your photography evolving through the coming years?

I’m a fashion photographer these days and, at 75, I’m tending only to think about the coming year, singular. And my photography has probably evolved now as much as it’s ever going to.

I don’t shoot young people in nightclubs very much at all these days although I still really enjoy it when I do.

Having said that, there are a lot of great young photographers around now doing similar kind of work and some of them are fantastic - miles better than I ever was - so I don’t want to get in their way, either literally or metaphorically.