What about the Kate Bush images? I can vividly remember seeing that on tube posters and all over the place at the time.
Gered Mankowitz: “On the buses as well. They had an album which they were absolutely thrilled about but they didn’t have a cover. Actually, that’s not true, they had a cover that they weren’t happy with. And they didn’t have a really strong image of her so they called me in and played me some music, played me Wuthering Heights and told me it was the single. And I couldn’t believe my ears.
I said to whoever it was I was working with at that point, ‘ I’ve got to listen to that again because I can’t believe what I just heard.’ And listening to it two or three times I said ‘What we need is a photograph that people are going to want to look at again and again and again. Something that’s going to surprise them like the music does.’ And watching some videos of her it was quite clear from what I saw and from what I heard and had been told, that dance was an incredibly important form of expression for her. And I always thought that the rehearsal clothes that dancers wore were sexy and great to look at and so I suggested that maybe I get some leggings and leotards and scarves and things like that. And we talked to Kate and she liked the idea and she came to the studio and disappeared into the dressing room while I set up this old canvass. It’s actually an old boxing ring canvass. The mirror was in our dressing room and I used the ring as a background for this session. She came out quite a long time later just wearing this pink leotard and she just looked absolutely wonderful and it was just perfect for her. It was a wonderful colour and she just looked ravishing and I thought the contrast of this beautiful young woman and this shabby non-descript canvas would work, and it did. Everybody fell in love with the picture and it caused a sensation. It did its trick and I worked with her on maybe seven or eight sessions after that.” (from retrosellers.com, 2010) “It was used as an advert on the front of London’s buses and caused havoc with the rush-hour traffic!”
(from Mankowitz.com)
#katebush #genius #wutheringheights #geredmankowitz #photography
