Yahoo News: Photographer Mick Rock On David Bowie

David Bowie’s mercurial assortment of alter egos — from Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane to The Thin White Duke and the more recent Lazarus identity that posthumously inhabits Blackstar, his final album and first Billboard No. 1 — will be remembered just as much for their songs as their visages. No one captured Bowie’s unbridled devotion to his craft as poetically as Mick Rock, Bowie’s friend and official photographer between 1972-1973. (Mick Rock. The Rise of David Bowie is set to be published by Taschen next month.) Whether painting his face backstage or stomping around a stage in heels, in front of Rock’s camera, Bowie revealed himself as both an otherworldly man from mars and also completely down to earth. Here, Rock reflects on their historic partnership.

For my sins in a former life, I’ve been forced to spend an inordinate amount of time with musicians in this life. Of course, I love them.

A camera is a wonderful ally. It requires minimal maintenance and provides entry to a world of endless imagery.

My ambition was not to be a great photographer (though that certainly would have been a worthy stance). It was a lust to embrace anything that startled or energized me.

I am not in the business of documenting or revealing personalities. I am in the business of freezing shadows and bottling auras.

Without the rock ‘n rollers, I would not have developed as an image man.

You want to shock people with a bit of mystery and beauty. That’s my favorite kind of shocking.

I’ve never felt like a voyeur, although I’ve certainly done plenty of looking!

There’s an art to looking back - how to celebrate the past without being entrapped by it. Photographs provide the great physical link.

My allegiance was always to the act. I wanted them to be happy. I wasn’t owned by a magazine or a record label.

I smell pictures more than I see them and I hear pictures more than I can smell them. It’s very habit forming.