David Michael Kennedy

PART I - Portraits in the 80s

 

 

 

 

John LeKay:  Can you please tell me about the portrait work you did in the 80s - with people like Bob Dylan, Debbie Harry, Muddy Waters, Bruce Springstein, and Richard Segalman (the painter)?

David Michael Kennedy:  Yes, Richard is a friend of mine, I have known him for probably about 30 years and I have been photographing him for 30 years.  It is kind of an interesting relationship.

JL:  I noticed the ones where he looked a lot younger with the long hair - in the picture with the glasses.

DMK:  Yeah, actually that's a wig - John  (Laughter ).  Richard never had long hair.  That one is weird on him.

JL:  I thought he was like a hippy. (laughter)

DMK:  No no no.  It was a good time, it was a lot of fun. 

I don't even know how to begin talking about the portraits.  That was a pretty amazing time in my life.  I came back to New York just to have back surgery and had every intention of going back to California and I just kind of fell into doing all of these great pictures of these great people so I stayed in New York for 18 years. 

Richard Segalman Woodstock NY

Bob Dylan Zuma Beach California 1985

JL:  What was the experience like when photographing Bob Dylan?

DMK:  Dylan was great.  Dylan was really the only person that I was really excited about photographing.  Really "in awe"; because I was excited about photographing everybody.  But Dylan was the one that made me nervous and really got my heart going.  He was an icon to me and it was interesting because when I did it he told the magazine that he did not want a fancy photographer; he didn't want one of these fashion guys that comes with a whole entourage and everything.  So when I went to photograph him, I didn't even bring an assistant.  I didn't bring anybody.  Just me.  But I brought a ton of equipment.

JL:  So who helped you out - did you have anyone there to help you?

DMK:  He did, himself.  I had him hanging seamless for me and moving boxes and stuff.   And it was great.  It was great for two reasons; one, because I was tremendously nervous photographing him; I mean he was an icon - I could hardly talk the night before, I was so excited and nervous.  So it really helped to break the ice number one.  Number two, it made him feel really comfortable - like he was just one of the guys.  It had nothing to do with fancy, with fashion, with photography.  It kind of brought us down to an equal working level; so it was just fabulous, it was the best thing I could have done.

JL:  Did Bobby have a sense of humor - working with you?

DMK:  Yes most definitely.  People always used to ask me how I photographed celebrities and how I got them comfortable.  I didn't have any secrets; the big secret was I just treated everybody like people.  We treated them well.  We always had food in the studio, we always cared about them.  But, if I was doing a shoot of some street bum - they got treated the same way. 

JL:  Usually, they would come to your studio, or did you go to their houses or on location?

DMK:  Fifty / fifty - a lot of times we would go to their house or we would go on location, but I think that it is really important; the secret, if there was any, was that they just got treated like people.

JL:  Regardless of whoever they were. 

DMK:  Yeah, and we always treated everybody good, so it was not like we didn't treat everybody good.  But we didn't treat them special, that you were a star or a celebrity - you were just someone that we were going to work with that day. 

Fedelino Salazar Cerrillos Feb. 1988

Muddy Waters New York City 1980

PART II Lakota Dancers

Pueblo Dancers

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