Buck & Buckley

The big deal with this session was not that I was photographing music icon Jeff Buckley, but that it was my first job for Rolling Stone magazine. Hence, we went all out! We did early morning shooting at Coney Island, and then came back to my studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for some indoor setups.

The session was with Jeff and his creative partner Gary Lucas, under the name Gods and Monsters. Gary was already a respected guitarist, with time spent with Captain Beefheart, while Jeff was presumably a young singer that Gary crossed paths with and recognized some potential in.

Working with them was easy and productive, and they appeared to have a good working relationship. Although Gary was the veteran of the business, Jeff had a youthful confidence, so there was balance in their relationship.

One detail that stood out was that Jeff had never heard the music of the Velvet Underground. I remember that he was a fan of Led Zeppelin, among other acts, but given Gary’s rich pedigree, I was surprised that Jeff had no little familiarity with the avant-pop pioneers.

After the article ran, Jeff called me to ask about getting copies of the black-and-white contact sheets. When there is a fruitful session with a cooperative subject, I'm inclined to be generous with sharing the art. But I was amused to see later that he had repurpose them, sans Gary, when building his solo career when I found posters promoting upcoming shows at Siné placed around the East Village. Given his childlike precociousness, I was not surprised, but I was also impressed by his boldness and chutzpah.

Top Image: My favorite image from the Gods and Monsters session, February 23, 1992. Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY.

Second Image: A studio portrait of Lucas and Buckley with cross processed film, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Third Image: One of the notebook pages for the Gods and Monsters session.

Bottom Image: Left: The Siné poster built from a contact sheet of the Coney Island scenario. Right: A solo sitting with Jeff Buckley, October 5, 1994, at the Sony Music offices, NYC. “The contrast with the follow up session was stark. We shot for under an hour in a beige office at his record company in midtown Manhattan.”