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[ November 3, 2003 ]
Los Angeles music and TV photographer Chris Cuffaro says he owes his success to three chapters in his life: His Seventh grade photography class, where he "learned everything I could've learned in college, his post-high school job at a color lab run by a photojournalist, and a similar job in an LA black-and-white lab, where he lucked into a night of processing Herb Ritz's photographs of Olivia Newton-John's wedding.
Since then the 43-year-old photographer has shot more than 300 album covers and is responsible for some ubiquitous images of George Michael and Perry Farrell. His LA living room is a digital lab, while his dining room is a storage space for nearly 30 years of film and prints. Cuffaro says he's "LA's best kept secret." "People know my work, but they don't know me," Cuffaro says. Although he's not prone to self-promotion, that this will have to change in the coming year as he plans to publish a book depicting his wide range of work documenting musicians. Altpick.com spoke to Cuffaro from his LA home.
How is it you learned so much in Seventh grade?
I learned so much: about color, printing, building darkrooms, running a business. Then the former photo editor of the San Jose Mercury News bought the lab, which is an award-winning paper for photojournalism. A lot of the photographers would come and see him, and I'd pick their brains. I didn't want to be a photojournalist, but I learned a lot from them about composition, lighting, styling. Plus, the owner gave me the freedom - "Here's some film, go shoot!" - to try new things and learn by doing. How has working in advertising helped you with the work you do now? A lot. I know what goes on inside. I know what is required and what a client goes through. I understand when I am running after a client who is stalling, they are not deciding, and we are trying to get something approved. I understand deadlines and am really good in production. I know what is needed to get casting approvals. I think having a really good understanding of print helps as well. When and why did you leave Northern California for LA? My goal was to shoot the cover of Vogue, and I realized I wasn't going to do that in the Bay Area. My aspirations were always really high like that. So I told my boss, 'I'm going to go down there for a week and see if I can find a job.' I found one in two days, drove back home, packed up all my stuff and came down here. That was 24 years ago. Why didn't you try the assistant route?
Ultimately the big break for me was when Herb Ritz shot Olivia Newton-John's wedding. His agent at the time was at Visage, which back then was one of the big photo agencies. This agent was running film from the wedding to the lab to get the images to the press. I volunteered to work at the lab all night. I got to know her and showed her my work. I asked her if she would rep me, and she said no, but she gave me lots of advice, and whenever a publicist would call the agency with a job that paid no money, they would give it to me to help me build my book. Right around the same time I started shooting musicians, I got a call from the art director for Musician magazine in Massachusetts. For about three years I was the West Coast photographer for Musician. Then I went back to Visage and said my stuff would be appearing in a publication, and could I say I was repped by them. I was probably 23 around then. They said yes. So you were shooting LA musicians — does that mean you were living the LA party life?
It took me a long time before I experienced the life. I was the photographer, the control freak. I didn't even get drunk until I was 28. I was on tour with George Michael. How did you land that gig? A friend recommended me to George, who was really picky about his photographs. They were doing the "Faith" video, and I shot the picture with him and the guitar and the jean jacket. He approved like 15 photos from that shoot, and his management and the label people freaked out — "How did you get him to do this?" So they just kept hiring me. How did you move from pop music to grunge? I started getting assignments in Seattle in the late 1980s, back when people in LA paid no attention to what was happening up there. I knew the manager of Nirvana. This was before they released "Never mind" -- and I asked if I could shoot them. I remember them saying, 'Dude, we haven't eaten for days, we're so hungover.' So I bought them lunch and shot some great images. I wasn't paid for that. That's still how I do things. If I like, I'll just do it; I don't care about the cost. So then I started working with the Screaming Trees and Pearl Jam. Then the Seattle thing broke; the music hit the airwaves. And that really helped open a lot of doors for me, because I had them in my book.
Because I'm old and I can't relate to these kids anymore. Ask any guy who's shot music and they would say the same thing. I don't want to have to take the same picture over and over. You get known for something and you get hired for that thing. At the beginning it was George Michael, then it was grunge-edgy. I still have a hit list of people I've yet to shoot, whom I would drop anything to shoot: David Bowie, Fugazi, and Dr. Dre. But for the most part the music thing has died down for me, which is fine. Have changes in the photography world helped fuel this decision? Yes they have. More and more, it's not about how you shoot, but who you shoot. Editors and publicists don't even look at the lighting, the composition, the feeling you elicited from the subject. It's funny; I always paraphrase the photographer David Bailey, who said photographers are celebrities by association. As a photographer, you're not the guy. You're the guy who does the guy. And for me, it's meant a lot of hard work. I have a great life, but I've earned it. That's what I always tell interns and students: I'm a starving artist, not a celebrity. I'm not the best photographer in the world. But I know I'm not the worst, and that no one will outwork me. - Contributed by Mary-Beth Holland >> See more work from Chris Cuffaro >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
