David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is an American commercial photographer, fine-art photographer, music video director, film director, and artist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth11 March 1963
CityFairfield, CT
CountryUnited States of America
real thinking drawing
With mania, is it dangerous to ride that euphoric feeling. You feel very animated and creative; I would fill journals with drawings. It feels good and you want it to last, but it can lead to being delusional. The delusions can be as real as you thinking you can fly.
thinking challenges lines
It's much harder to work for yourself, by yourself, than to create work for a gallery, because there are no limits and you can do anything you want. It's always easier when you have a parameter, when you have a limit. You can work within the limit and push it and walk the line, but when you're given absolutely no limits, it's harder. You must really think. It's more challenging.
thinking color style
I was working in this very bombastic style. I didn’t really know about style. I didn’t think about it: I did what I was interested in, what I was attracted to, what I was drawn to. I was drawn to color, and I was drawn to humor, and I was drawn to sexuality and spontaneity. It was all really intuitive. I never really thought, “Well this is the style…
thinking keys hands
The key is to photograph your obsessions, whether that’s old people’s hands or skyscrapers. Think of a blank canvas, because that’s what you’ve got, and then think about what you want to see. Not anyone else.
thinking editors bullshit
My biggest advice would be to take the pictures you want to take. Don’t think about the marketplace, what sells or what an editor might say. And don’t think about style. It’s all bullshit and surface stuff. Style happens.
thinking body flesh
I like thinking about the fragility of the human flesh and our bodies - our decay and eventual death.
art thinking differences
I didn’t see any difference between being a photographer or being an artist. I didn’t make those boundaries. If someone wants to think it’s art, that’s great, but I’ll let history decide.
thinking matter remains
I think we're in a post-pornographic time and nothing seems shocking, but everything remains carnal no matter what you do.
strong believe photographer
I believe in a visual language that should be as strong as the written word.
photograph wanted
I never wanted to be famous. I always wanted to take famous photographs.
kids games play
What's shocking is cruelty and torture, and that's become our entertainment. Kids can play violent video games, but God forbid they look at a naked woman. That's pornography, that's perverse. No!
eye attention candy
My work is about making candy for the eyes. It's about grabbing your attention.
people photographer good-person
Success to me is being a good person, treating people well.
ideas want tools
The tools I learned photographing celebrities, now I want to use them to sell ideas.