Tue, December 28th, 2004 by Terence Patrick
I'm not sure how many people here are working photographers, but this has been somewhat of a breakthrough year for me as I try to support myself with photography. I've had the opportunity to photograph a few celebrities, including Moby, Michael Chang, and tons of not-so-well-known-in-America European DJs.
But recently, I had a chance of a lifetime by spending some time with Mike Tyson. I photographed him with a few other celebrities such as Dennis Haysbert (the president on the show '24') and as seen in the photo, legendary boxer Roberto Duran. It was definitely a test of one's patience to photograph Tyson as he is not one of the nicer people I've met. But there's still a strange sense of greatness that lingers around him, particularly the way people throw themselves at him in hopes of getting a few words in. I literally had to stay out of his way except for a few posed shots with him and Duran, whom he regards as his favorite boxer.
Has anyone here photographed a celebrity and had to deal with the huge egos that go with them? It was definitely a learning experience for me as a photographer.
New server!
December 28th, 2004 at 12:17 pm
I got the opportunity to photograph the Dutch Labour Party leader, Wouter Bos a year ago. He didn't have a big ego, but he did try to steer the photo shoot so that I photographed him only at his best.
I learned that I have to be a bit more assertive and in control of the situation so that I come away with the shots that -I- want, instead of the other way around.
December 28th, 2004 at 3:02 pm
A celebrity with a huge ego eh..? Does Bush count? Haha... just kidding folks! Personally, I've never had the opportunity, but Eliot over at Slower.net has taken his share of celebrity shots, as well as Brook over at http://ayola.com/blog/ .
By the way... cool shots Terence. Tyson seems like quite the intimidating fellow... especially with the whole tattoo and 'biting' thing.
December 28th, 2004 at 3:32 pm
Don't forget the punching thing.
December 28th, 2004 at 4:30 pm
Rachel:
Totally agree on the being assertive part. One of my favorite photography books is "Tête á Tête" by Henri Cartier-Bresson where he has portraits of many famous people. I love the way he has these ego-less photographs of celebrities. It's so much harder than it looks!
Jessyel:
Yeah, Tyson is pretty intimidating. At the end of the shoot, he looked at me and said "Alright chinaman, I'm done with the pictures...get your bag and get the f*ck outta here!" And I'm not even Chinese! The nerve of him! haha...
December 28th, 2004 at 7:12 pm
I don't think I've shot my fair share yet, but the celebs I have shot have all been great experiences. Denise Richards told me to F**k off, jokingly of course and Daryl Hannah gave me a spanking. When shooting Kirk Douglas, I happened to say "perfect" when he got into the position I wanted and he took that as me saying "It's a wrap!" I had to convince him otherwise.
December 29th, 2004 at 8:30 am
I was once interviewing the notoriously prickly Scottish poet and sculptor Ian Hamilton Finlay at his home in the country. A good friend of mine, David Williams, was commissioned to take a portrait for the article. He spent ages setting up the shot in a small conservatory and Finlay was becoming increasingly agitated at the time it was taking. Dave tried to calm him by saying 'it'll be a good photograph'. Finlay fixed him with a gimlet stare and intoned drily 'the only good photograph is one that has been taken.' The result was, however, excellent.
December 29th, 2004 at 4:21 pm
i was asked to photograph a musician whose biggest claim to fame was getting a song on a WB teen show years ago. i was considerably nervous, was still in college and very new to photography and completely over prepared - scouted a great location near the venue the artist would play at in the evening, did a test-shoot with a friend in the morning to make sure i had the hang of the d-60 digital camera and lenses, and waited for the call for our scheduled noon shoot.
at 10, i get an e-mail from his manager saying he was, er, missing. 11 a.m. i'm told the shoot would have to be post-poned as he was now located, but, er, not feeling well. by 1p.m i get asked if i can please come by before soundcheck. i also find out that the "not feeling well" (that the artist later insisted was because of a flu bug) and the "missing" part stemmed from a drinking bender the night before while at a pop concert. er, okay.
so, my beautiful fall-day noonish shoot outdoors turned into a grumpy 20 minutes at night inside a pitch-dark venue where the most light available was a string of green christmas lights and the flash built into the camera. rarely have i felt so crappy and unskilled. sigh. toward the end i finally got the dude to stop being McGrumpypants, but he was very hard to get anything but blank-face from.
after the shoot, i got an e-mail where the manager wanted me to send them the pictures first to, er, "work on." presumably to make sure his double chin and late night partying wasn't showing. uh, nooo. i ended one with one random shot that i could send the magazine. heh.
that said, some people are amazing. musician andrew w.k. rocks like no other. i assisted a 3-day tv shoot with him and mtv on my campus and was allowed to photograph in my spare time. andrew and the mtv crew liked my work enough that i got full reigns to shoot whenever i wanted during the rest of the weekend, culminating in a fantastic rock concert where i got to be on stage and photograph the entire time. loved every minute of it, and i was later asked to contribute one of my photo's to dazed & confused magazine.
man, i'm wordy.. sorry. it feels good to focus momentarily for something other than the news coverage of the tsunami. the photoghraphs of the aftermath and victims is just absolutely devastating. :/
December 30th, 2004 at 12:31 am
Over the years i have photographed local musicians, most of them are not big enough to have egos. But I have to agree with rachel, I need to be more assertive.. I need to learn how to give better direction.
December 30th, 2004 at 10:29 am
I am lucky enough to be near the New York Giants football training camp in Albany, NY. I went a few times this summer and got some decent shots of them doing their thing. They really didn't have any ego with me or some of the other people photographing them. I think they are used to it in Albany. They might be different in a one on one situation.
January 3rd, 2005 at 3:02 pm
I make a living photographing live performers. If making photos of celebrities is different, the difference is in the head of the photographer. In my case I don't see a difference: people are people.
April 29th, 2005 at 9:57 pm
I need help in contacting the management team for actor Dennis Haysbert. I would like to ask permission to use a photo of him and dont even know where to start.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Please email.
Thank you!
October 15th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
If you are ever interested in shooting some exclusive photos for our blog please contact us.
We cover all of the celebrities and gossip news. Check out or blog here.
http://www.celebrityroyale.com/
Congrats on your opportunity to shoot Mike Tyson!
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:28 am
China Tours, Travel China, Beijing Tours ，China Travel is a China travel agency providing China tours、Beijing Tours, Tibet Tours, Great Wall Tour and Yangtze river cruises. We specialize in "Tailor-Made" and "Customized" private and group tours to China. We'll try our best to offer you China tours with super value and most considerate service.