As he celebrates a new exhibition, top celebrity photographer Steve Read talks to Matty Graham about his love for film photography and his personal approach to portraiture…
Back in the 90s, Amateur Photographer was based out of offices in the King’s Reach Tower, a stone’s throw from London’s Blackfriars Bridge. Down the corridor was the office of Loaded magazine, the iconic publication from the lads’ mag era that changed the face of publishing as we knew it.
The man responsible for creating the look of the title was art director Steve Read, whose life and surroundings were about to be transformed.
Steve’s journey has taken many turns, but actually started down the corridor from Amateur Photographer’s own office, when he was the Art Director for iconic 90s lads mag, Loaded.
Headhunted by media mogul Tina Brown and snapped up from the rainy streets of London, Steve landed in Los Angeles and walked straight into the bright lights of the city, rubbing shoulders with actors and singers on Sunset Boulevard.
But with Steve wanting to put down his art director hat and pick up a camera, a life-affirming pivot occurred, and he became the West Coast Staff Photographer for Talk Magazine. Steve unleashed his passion and skill, capturing intense and intimate portraits of Hollywood’s finest at a time when the cult of celebrity was nearing its zenith.
Subjects included 50 Cent’s fellow rap alumni Eminem, with Steve enjoying unprecedented access and capturing the star with his legendary lyric sheets. Ozzie Osbourne, Ray Liotta, Gary Numan, Alanis Morrisette – all captured under the golden light of California and typically with Steve’s set-up of choice, his Hasselblad film camera paired with an 85mm lens.
This time period has served as the core of a breathtaking exhibition, which started in Edinburgh and is now present at Kimpton Clocktower in Manchester and is attracting huge interest from the press.
Entitled: “Shooting Stars Pays The Rent”, Steve worked with master black and white printer, Robin Bell, a professional Steve calls the ‘best in the business’, along with Project 78 Framing Ltd, who have enabled Steve to not only present in one location, but also make the experience more immersive, with viewer’s following a trail to be rewarded with additional prints and insight into his work.
Not all of Steve’s portraits have been captured under the golden glow of L.A.’s skies. For example, a memorable frame of Sophie Ellis-Bextor was a fine example of Steve’s approach to portraiture and how he often has to work with the environments and limitations he’s greeted with on shoot day.
“I went on tour with Sophie, and it was one of those shoots during downtime where we have a hotel room and 15 or 30 minutes to get it all done. I’m okay with small amounts of time, but I like to get an hour before they arrive in the location so I can plan where I’ll position my lights.
Making sure everything is already planned out and sorted for when the subject arrives has always been my approach, and knowing that the lighting is arranged allows me to focus on connecting with the subject – the most important thing is to gain their respect and trust immediately. If you don’t get that quickly, then you’re done,” explains Steve, who made use of the hotel room’s small balcony to position lights on either side of Sophie for a dramatic high-contrast lighting style that also included the Eiffel Tower in the background.
While Steve’s photos have adorned the pages of major magazines for decades, his talents aren’t limited to stills, and Steve has also worked on movie projects, including the spectacular Gary Numan: Android In La La Land – an unfiltered film following the British music star in LA and giving an unflinching look at his life.
The ability for Steve to disarm celebrities of their egos and sensibilities is a key reason for his longevity and success. They simply don’t see him as ‘just another’ photographer who’ll shoot and run, who’s clocking in to rick the boxes and this investment in the experience has netted results – who else but Steve could convince Vinnie Jones to jump into a swimming pool while wearing a Prada suit, or be invited along on a ride out by Sonny Barger, the head of the Oakland, California charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
Steve’s calmness under pressure is also a key weapon in his arsenal and was put to the test during a photoshoot with rap star 50 Cent. “After an age waiting around a hotel lobby, I was eventually led up to a room. When I saw 50 Cent, he put up four fingers, meaning I only had four clicks of the shutter, and that was my lot,” remembers Steve.
Many of Steve’s images are in colour, but many more are black and white, and Steve is quick to admit his love of mono. “To me, shooting black and white film is something special.
Of course, I’ve used digital cameras, more so when shooting more commercial campaigns, but digital can’t replicate the feel of analogue, the noise, the grain,” explains Steve, who has also used cameras such as the Leica M6 and recently picked up a Fuji GSW 690 – a camera known as ‘the Texas Leica’.
Steve is clearly comfortable in the presence of big stars, but not every big star is so comfortable with him. “I was working at a Sarajevo benefit concert – there was a charity single, it was a big deal and had attracted a lot of people.
I remember people like Ricky Martin and Lionel Richie were there, but so was Mariah Carey. I was approached by a member of staff, who whispered I was only to look at Mariah through he camera, not directly at her. It was no problem, I ended up having a beer with Spike Lee and B.B. King, talking about film and football.”
One of Steve’s regular clients was Q Magazine, the acclaimed music publication, and it was that title that commissioned him to photograph Alanis Morrisette.
As ever, Steve would have to think on his feet, grabbing portraits when time allowed during promo filming for a new album, but this time he would be able to lean on the inspiration of one of his influences. “We didn’t have much room as it was some backstage area of a studio. This shot is more of a reportage feel, and it has the feel of an Irving Penn frame, creating a space in the corner to lead the viewer’s eye.”
Steve readily admits that revisiting his body of work and sifting through negatives of previous photoshoots from the 2000s was cathartic and spurred him on to make the exhibition a reality. However, there’s plenty more excitement for Steve to come, and there may be another chapter to this exhibition to come.
“At the moment, there’s an idea to create a TV show that’s linked to the portraits I’ve taken 15, 20, maybe 25 years ago. The concept is that we retake the portrait as closely as we can to the original and talk to the subject to find out what has changed in the intervening years – the ups, the downs, all of it really,” says Steve.
Very few photographers get to turn pro, and even fewer get to put the pedal to the metal and live the life Steve has enjoyed. From seeing first-hand how the media and photography landscape was shifting and working down the corridors from this very magazine, to travelling the world and building a huge portfolio of acclaimed work, to being able to look back and celebrate your hard work with a much-talked-about exhibition, in a way, this very interview shows how Steve’s journey has come full circle. And what a circle it’s been!
Find out more about Shooting Stars Pays The Rent at stevereadprints.com and follow Steve on Instagram via @Steve__read
Related reading
- Top Music Photographs Revealed
- The Photographer Who Changed Music
- How to photograph events and music – beginners guide
