BEHIND THE LENS WITH NICK KNIGHT
“Like a fantastic piece of jazz... apart from the fact I don’t like jazz that much!”
N
and this synesthesia has helped him to transfer his tal-
ick Knight does not see the world like other people
ents to moving image very easily. This year sees the
- and this is meant quite literally. ‘I suppose synesthesia
tenth anniversary of the photographers’ ground break-
is a condition in my family,’ clarifies the photographer.
ing web site showstudio.com, a site set up in the main
‘My brother sees colours for various days of the week, for
part to explore his interest in the moving fashion image.
letters and that sort of thing. And when I take a picture I
It is also a place where he continues to experiment in
hear a certain harmonious sound when I know it is right.
the digital medium, something he was always a fore-
I am often not even looking when I take a picture, well
runner in. ‘I suppose I am trying to create something
not looking with my eyes, it is intuition. I am anticipating
new, something that just has not been seen before, to
a movement, a sense of what will come in the future,
see the world in a new way.’ Perhaps it is no wonder
then the harmony, the sound, becomes just right in my
then that GaGa has become the photographer’s latest
head and I know I have got the right image.’ It is no sur-
muse, a partner in crime to do much of this exploring
prise then that Nick Knight has always been ahead of
with and to push boundaries of the medium even fur-
the game when it comes to the image making process
ther alongside...
“You are not constrained in a studio in the way that you are in other parts of life.�
How do you see things differently?
define who you are and in most walks of life you are
Well, the harmony in my head does dictate certain
not encouraged to defy the parameters of who you are
things. I remember seeing Shalom Harlow modelling in
supposed to be. So you do not really feel like you are
front of my camera in New York and her movements
living life to the full. I guess there is a desire with people
were music, it was quite beautiful. Like a fantastic
like GaGa to test who they are and to find out what their
piece of jazz... apart from the fact I don’t like jazz that
capabilities are. She wants to push her identity in any
much!
number of ways.
How has this been affected by the technology you use?
How did you start working with GaGa?
That combining of shape and form is made easier
I suppose we all came together through Alexander
digitally. Waiting for the shapes to work and feel
McQueen and our work on Lee’s last show - although
harmonious goes on in front of the camera and away
at that point we did not meet, she just crashed my web
from it as well, where I will cut and paste them to make
site! Later on I suppose she just rang me up. It was not
it feel right, to make the composition - in both senses
an assistant or her management, I picked up the phone
of the word - correct. It also works like that in the 3D
when I was in the middle of a shoot and she was on
sculptures that I do. Like the one of GaGa and her piano.
the other end of the line. She just asked me to work with her. And that was it really.
What is the overall aim of your work? I think what I work on is desire. Desire to experience
How did you feel about working with Jo Calderone?
something I have not experienced, to see things I have
Well Jo is a tough character. Very much an Italian
not seen, to be involved in something I have not been
boy. There is something quite dark about Jo. It’s that
involved in. It works on lots of different levels both socially
darkness that is in a lot of men. Actually the film we
and artistically, but it is desire.
did of Jo I think shows more of his character than his pictures. He is really very interesting.
Your process and the relationships you form with your sitters are incredibly important aren’t they? Well all of those social taboos that you experience in normal society are no longer there in the studio. Say for instance the touching of someone, you really cannot do that in real life but you can in the studio in the process of a shoot. You are not constrained in a studio in the way that you are in other parts of life. GaGa could not be more open to this suspension of real life in the studio. At one point I spent 48 hours solid with GaGa where she did one performance after another for all sorts of images. Whether this was being puked on, or self-tattooing, or being tied to a cross and not being able to breathe, having a gun strapped to her face... she put herself through all of those sorts of things to see how far she can push her own boundaries. I have noticed that with GaGa, she essentially wants to find out who she is by pushing against her own boundaries. She allows me to be her sort of safety net I suppose. So both you and GaGa have the same ultimate goal of creating something you have never seen before? Yes. There are not many situations where you can really