Dennis Morris What Do Artists Do All Day?

People say to me, what do you do? And I say... I shoot people!

Keep coming at me, keep coming at me. Stop.

I'm a bit like...

..a hired assassin, you know. Pwchoo!

I get a phone call like you see in the movies, I pack my bag,

I go over and I shoot people!

I never stepped out to be a superstar photographer.

I'm an artist who happens to use a camera.

Within what I do as an artist, there is no limits.

I just wanted to take pictures, if it moved, click.

# We're so pretty, oh so pretty... #

All my friends thought I was crazy.

# We're so pretty, oh so pretty... #

One shot. I knew when I got it

and it became one of the most famous sleeve shots I've ever done.

Photography, for me, is everything.

Photography is life itself.

It is an amazing medium.

# We're so pretty, oh so pretty.... #

I don't actually sleep. I do about four hours, to be honest with you.

That works for me.

And then because what I do is quite international,

if I'm up in the middle of the night, it means Japan is up

so that networks for me.

I never liked the idea of the look of a photographer,

the bags and everything else. I never liked it.

I always used to carry my cameras in an indiscreet bag,

nothing that looked like a photography bag.

Also I used Leicas

which was very rare to use that in the business -

in music photography.

Hence you can just drop it in your pocket.

I remember when I did a first show I ever did, I took a Leica out,

everyone had Canons and Nikons and Pentaxes and I had Leica.

-And they looked at me and thought, "What the

-BLEEP

-is that?!"

# She had such a pretty face when she was young...#

Skinny Girl Diet for me is probably one of the really exciting

young female bands coming out of England at the moment.

The kind of pictures I'd like to get of the band is to try

to capture the energy which I think they exude on stage.

-Hi.

-Hello.

-Hugs.

-I'm Ursula.

Hi. Nice to meet you.

Hi, Delilah.

I'm Amelia.

When you have your own studio, you know

exactly what the vibe of the place is.

It's a constant, in that sense.

So when you hire a place, it's completely different.

You have to get the feel of the place.

It's really like meeting a girl for the first time.

You've got somebody in music with you?

What I look for in a band at that time I'm interested in working with

is a certain amount of originality

and a certain confidence that they have as a singer, as a band.

Big fans of his work.

I feel like he captures people's true essence in his photography.

Get a little glimpse of their aura from the pictures and yeah,

it's something a lot of photographers nowadays

are a bit lazy and they just want to dress you up like dolls and stuff.

Whereas I feel like Dennis's style, it's fun and it almost seems like

he's got a friendship with them.

You can kind of feel the relationship and get a mood.

Well, what if girls look like Beyonce and play punk music,

what are you going to do then? It is switching things up a bit.

And like, just, we are like unique people.

We're not going to be copying the past, we are inspired by that.

OK, what you're doing there now, I would say hold that,

look straight at me and the same kind of thing.

When I work with a band, I like to work when there's no brief.

That's cool. I like to keep it nice and open.

That way I can feel I can get much more out of the band

when there is no set brief.

That's the way I like to work.

I just want to give you an idea of where we're going with it.

We'll chill out again before we start.

I was born in Jamaica and I was brought over at the age of four

with my mother. At that time, people came over for a better life, really.

That is how it began for me.

The first thing happened when I arrived, the plane landed and it was

winter and as we were coming down, I said to my mother, "Are we here?"

As I said, "Are we here?"

steam came from my mouth and I thought I was on fire!

I had never seen that before and that was the first thing.

I couldn't understand why anyone would want to come to such a cold place!

One of the first weeks or so we went to the church

and I was introduced to the vicar.

I was told I had to join the choir so I did join the choir.

And one of the things that happened to me

was they had a photographic club.

But the first time I went to the darkroom,

I saw one of the older boys in the darkroom and I sneaked in

and he was printing, took the paper,

put it into the dish and then rocked

the dish and this image appeared and I just thought, wow, magic!

Magic!

And I just couldn't believe it.

And from that day, I just knew I wanted to be a photographer.

I was smitten. That was it.

I just wanted to be a photographer, I just wanted to take pictures.

I remember the first time I did a print, and I couldn't even

wait for it to dry and I ran home and showed my mum. "Look, look!

"Look what I've done!"

And she was like, "It's very nice." But I was so excited.

And then, for me, that was it. The magic...

had begun and I have been doing it ever since.

By the time I was ready to leave school, you have this thing,

a careers master, I remember sitting with him

and my mother and he said, "What is it you want to do, boy?"

I said, "I want to be a photographer."

And I remember he looked at me and said, "Don't be silly.

"There's no such thing as a black photographer."

I said, "Yes, there is.

"There's James Van Der Zee, Gordon Parks..."

And he looked at me like, "Who?"

We're in Cecilia Road in Dalston, Hackney.

Across the road there is the house which

I kind of grew up from the age of...

11.

What I did do when I got my own room,

I completely blocked out the curtains

so it's that window on the left.

I completely blocked out the curtain with plastic bin liners and...

Built a shelf, workbench, got it larger and turned it into a darkroom.

So, I was constantly sleeping with chemicals around me, 24/7.

This spot where I am standing was a telephone box which

was my office, as such.

And this was the number I gave out to prospective clients.

I used to sleep with my window open and when the phone rang,

I ran down the stairs and ran into the telephone box and said,

"Dennis Morris's studio!" and no-one ever knew.

I had a reputation in the neighbourhood of being cheap

and good.

I turned the living room into a temporary studio

so what I used to do is pin up a white sheet against the wall,

I would borrow tungsten lights from the photographic club

and then when people came to have their photographs taken,

they would stand in front of the white sheet

and I would do portraits and that's how I earned money.

How it worked within a West Indian family was,

I had to contribute to the household so the money I earned I would give

to my mother to help out because in those days life was tough.

That's how it worked.

No-one could understand why I was so obsessed with this thing,

photography.

I had this nickname, Mad Dennis, because they couldn't understand

why I wasn't interested in playing football, cricket or whatever.

In those days, the style of photography was reportage.

Reportage is really about capturing the moment.

Reportage was my influence.

I would walk around with my camera constantly looking for pictures,

taking pictures.

And so it would be pictures of my friends, in their homes,

that's how it all started for me.

# To be young, gifted and black. #

I used to do weddings, there was a white guy with a black girl

and you could see both families were not into it.

And whatever I did to try to get a smile in the photograph was

impossible, it was always tension.

But it was one of those things.

Across the road there, with that butcher shop,

used to be the Trojan record shop.

Which is where we used to meet on a Saturday afternoon

and pick up the leaflets to find out where the latest dances were.

All the blues dances.

# Wonderful world, beautiful people. #

When you walked into the record shop you would always play

the track, the record before you bought it.

And then you would listen to the entire length of the song

and then you would say yes or no.

The guy in the shop would play maybe ten different records

and you may buy one or all ten.

There was a constant, constant playing of music all the time.

So then if this was the record shop, I would be standing

here like a bad boy, like a rude boy, listening to tunes and stuff.

# So, let's start getting happy now, ready? Yeah, yeah, yeah! #

Reggae music was important for the West Indian community

because it was a way of knowing what was happening back in Jamaica.

The music was a way of telling stories, a newspaper.

This is the site of the famous, infamous Four Aces Club.

The Four Aces Club was one of the first black owned clubs.

Any of the Jamaican artists or American artists who came

over to England would play at the Four Aces Club

because all the blues dances never started before ten o'clock

and then go on until eight in the morning.

I used to go really early while they were setting up

and that's how I do my pictures.

One of my most famous pictures,

taken in the Four Aces Club, is of Count Shelley's sound system.

Count Shelley is one of the sounds that represented Hackney.

And I've got this really great shot of the sound system with

a selector, the selector is the man that would choose records to

be played, and the MC, the man on the microphone.

SPEAKS JAMAICAN PATOIS Next tune. Yes.

And then, boom, everyone would start rocking. Ha-ha!

# No sun will shine over my day today

# No sun will shine

# The high yellow moon won't come out to play... #

Bob Marley was one of the first people I heard at the Four Aces Club.

But Bob Marley was being played everywhere.

Even in homes, not just the clubs.

Bob Marley was universal in that way.

# Where is the love? #

He was the new rebel voice coming out of Jamaica.

The voice of the youth of Jamaica.

And so for me, hearing that, and I was searching,

I was looking for a way and when I heard his music,

heard his voice, I thought, "Wow, I want to be a part of this."

So when I heard he was coming to do his first

tour of England, I decided not to go to school that day.

Bunked off school.

Went down to this club called the Speakeasy Club in the West End.

Went and waited and waited and waited.

Eventually, he turned up and as he was walking towards me,

I said, "Can I take a picture?" "Yeah, man. Come in."

I went in and the adventure began.

And then he told me, later, about the tour

he was doing which I knew about. And asked me if I'd like to come along.

I said, "Yeah!" The next morning I went over...

I went home the next morning, I packed my sports bag as

if I was doing PE and went to the hotel

and jumped into the tour van.

In those days, there was no tour bus.

And then it was a Ford Transit van and he looked around to me

and said, "Are you ready, Dennis?"

I went, click, "Yeah!"

This was where it all began on the journey.

So, one of the things I learned about Bob was when he had

time off, he would go shopping and I never knew what he was shopping for.

He would always buy 20 footballs, 20 football kits,

20 pairs of boots and eventually I realised

he was shopping for the kids in Trenchtown.

In Jamaica, kids were very, very into football.

On that tour, the first tour, we had many, many conversations,

and from that first meeting, and he really took to me.

And for me, he was the first person I had met, black person,

who told me when I said to him I want to be a photographer

and he said to me, "You can be a photographer.

"They will tell you you can't be a photographer,

"but you can be what you want to be."

I took it in.

Now this shot, for me, is very sad.

This was the last image I ever took of Bob.

He had come into London and he called me

and I went over to see him.

What was really different was this time round, Bob was normally

very vibrant, he seemed very withdrawn.

And he picked up the guitar and started playing this song.

# Old pirates, yes, they rob I... #

And I never knew what the song was but after he passed,

I realised it was Redemption Song.

And I suppose I was one of the first people to hear that song.

# From the bottomless pit. #

And it was a very, very sad moment for me.

Very sad.

Hi, girls. We can start now.

OK, let's go.

What you have to be careful of is you are constantly

being in the back.

You need to put yourself forward so you don't get in the shadow.

Whatever you do, you are performing to me.

Whatever you are doing, it is towards me, you understand?

OK. OK.

Yeah, head down slightly.

OK. Great. Keep coming at me. Stop.

Each member of the band has their own personality, obviously.

So, it's a matter of getting and coaxing whatever it is

that each person has, and capturing that in the photos.

Let's go. Come on. Stop!

Head down. Great.

When I work it's a physical thing. I'm jumping around, moving around.

Stay there. Stretch out more. Put that leg there.

No, that leg there.

And by doing that which is a natural process for me,

it also in the same way makes my subject that much more active,

not necessarily physically but internally, mentally,

for them to project so it is a very physical scenario for me.

Too much, too much. Yeah, OK.

If you're doing a movie, you don't have to do that much

but when doing stills,

you really have to exaggerate everything to get that action.

The thing about stills, you've always got to do that much more.

It is a performance. Put it straight out.

And then it's like a bridge, if you can. Yeah.

But don't look like you're holding, come round the other side.

Look at me with your eyes in the middle.

Let her leg go. Let her leg go.

Poke through, push through. Push through. That's it.

And then you come through as well.

OK, you're too low, come back up.

OK, right. OK. Right.

We will take a break.

I didn't want to be a rock photographer, it wasn't my ambition.

I wanted to be a war photographer.

# I am an antichrist

# I am an anarchist... #

I was too young to go to Vietnam

but when I worked with the Sex Pistols I found my own

private war with the Sex Pistols because that was absolute chaos.

Everything around them at that time was absolute madness.

Everything exploded. It was like a time bomb, tick tick tick.

And then, boom. And then suddenly it would kick off.

I came to check them out because I was very

interested in the band in terms of working with them.

I wanted to see the band because I knew if I was able to work with the

band, I would never see them again because I would be too busy working.

Sid was the one that came up with the pogo.

The band was on stage and started jumping up

and down frenetically in a mad way.

And then everything would just, whoosh!

When I worked with them, I was right in the front.

That's how I got all those shots.

I used to wear a jacket with a hood to protect myself from the spitting.

And also to get the shots...

So not to get a blur I had to move with the crowd and so I was like...

Whichever way the crowd moved, I moved. So that I wouldn't get blur.

If you didn't go with the flow, you'd get hurt.

If you keep static you would get hurt.

You had to move, that kind of vibe.

There was something about the Pistols that made you feel

and know they were the one.

John was a big reggae fan. And you saw those pictures of Bob Marley.

And Virgin was looking for somebody to do pictures of the band

and my name was on the list.

And John was in particular saying, "Yes, let's meet up."

It was kind of weird

because we kind of knew each other without knowing each other.

John grew up in Finsbury Park, I grew up in Hackney

so when we met it was like, "Oh, yeah. You."

It was like, hang about. OK, you are now part of us.

And so from then I was with them 24/7.

This is Sid's room after a night of depression.

He absolutely destroyed the room.

He took the TV off the wall, he smashed it,

he ripped up the Bible, set it alight. He set his bed alight.

He smashed the bathroom.

He destroyed the room completely.

It was like a bomb had hit it.

In the morning, when the maid came, to clean the rooms,

she walked in, she saw it, she ran out screaming.

The manager turned up, then Malcolm turned up.

Malcolm looked at the manager and said, "How much?"

The manager gave him a figure.

Opened his bag, paid him

and then said, "Call the police when we've gone and also the press."

That was Malcolm for you.

This next shot now is also very famous. It is Sid and Nancy.

In some ways, Sid, he was absolutely obsessed with Nancy.

And you can see her saying to him, "You are bigger than them,

"better than them." "No, I know."

"What am I supposed to do?" Well, you know.

She was always always like that. "Nnah, nnah, nnah!"

And Sid was like, "I know."

This shot was taken on a tour coach.

What was bizarre about it was the fact basically there was only

the band on there. And one other person. And myself.

You can see Sid completely out of it doing one of his famous...

Ha-ha!

In some ways, I think

I kind of changed the view of what rock pictures were about.

What I was doing were studies.

People, through my pictures, were able to see what a rock band life

was really like.

What I was giving was a real insight,

a realism which they had never seen before.

All the images I took was like I was never there.

I had to immerse myself into that world of the whole movement

and their lifestyle.

The difference with working with a punk band today than

the Sex Pistols is the fact with the Sex Pistols we were a bunch of

young guys who just basically wanted more than what was offered to us on

the table from when we left school, from what society had to offer.

With the band today, a punk band today, there's much more

on the table in terms of financing and what is to be gained so I think

a lot of bands now are a lot more aware of what to gain and what to lose.

There's a famous shot I did of Sid, I don't know if you've ever seen it

where he's pointing it like a gun.

That's what I'm saying. Pwchoo!

So it's that kind of thing, use it like a weapon. Pwchoo!

Pwchoo! Get any pose you want out of it but it's a weapon.

It is a weapon. You understand? It's a weapon you want to use.

I'm the one you want to pwchoo! Yeah?

And what might be nice if you move in a bit tighter.

Now we are rocking. Let's go.

We get to this point where we come up with something...

Do that again. More expression.

And we get it and use it and we use it to get to another point.

Can I get some music?

To create what we get, what we normally get.

I want it to be an experience,

so we both walk away thinking, "That was something special."

When I'm doing a shoot, I always know when I've got the shot, always.

When I get that feeling, it is a very, very emotional feeling.

OK. Finished.

OK? Those last ones were really fantastic. They look awesome!

So cool.

You always know when it's the one.

It's when you meet your lover, you know it's the one.