L’Officiel USA: Mick Rock, King of Glam Rock Photography, On His Near Death Experience

With a name seemingly given to him by the gods of music themselves, Mick Rock is no stranger to the saints and sinners of music history. The British-born, New York-based photographer and director, whose career spans just shy of half a century, has collaborated with a who’s who of rock and roll mythology. His legendary album covers, including David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and Lou Reed’s Transformer, not to mention Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as iconic images of the likes of Debbie Harry, Bryan Ferry, and Iggy Pop, to name just a limited few, have quite literally had a hand in shaping the legacy of rock music that is still felt today. Here, he discusses his long creative relationship with Bowie and Reed, his brush with death, and what it takes to capture the perfect image.

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.