A Meeting with My Mentor
Last night at the Prince concert in Inglewood, I had the opportunity to meet one of my heroes, David LaChapelle. I remember the first time I was introduced to his work, I was in 8th grade and had been studying for an exam about the civil war all day at Barnes and Nobles. My mind was completely fried so I decided to walk around the store. As I passed the photography section I saw a king sized book on the top shelf which read Hotel LaChapelle. I don’t know what it was that drew me to that particular image but I grabbed a step ladder and pulled the book down. It was in a box and wrapped up, I turned it around and saw the price tag for $100. I knew I’d never be able to afford the book but I HAD to find out what was inside. I found a corner of the store which had no surveillance camera as I nervously kept looking over my shoulders, I began to unwrap the packaging. Finally after stripping the box down to its core, I pulled the book out and upon opening it, was broadsided by fantastical images which were unlike anything I had ever seen leading up to that point. Every page I turn led me to another image which were so detailed and intricate that you can make an iSpy book out of each picture. Upon seeing his photography and how he captured the beauty of the human body, I found myself at a loss of words. I did not know how to explain what was going on in most of the pictures but I knew that each one of them perfectly captured what was inside my head. “I want to make images like this, I want to do this!” It was a sudden realization that many people spend their lives trying to figure out. I left the store with a page full of photo titles and before I left I carefully ripped out an image of Lil Kim entitled “A Visit from Aunt Dot.” I don’t know what I found so mystifying about the picture, I felt naughty for being intrigued by it but there was something about it that jotted my creativity. I folded it up, put in in my pocket then escaped from the store like a common criminal. That evening I told my mom that the only thing I wanted for my birthday that year was a copy of Hotel LaChapelle. Several months later my mom headed me a box and inside was the one gift I had been dying to have. Up until that point, it was the only time I had ever had such a strong impulse and need to own a piece of art. I use to carry around the book with me in my backpack and kept it there throughout high school. I would constantly turn to it for inspiration. My dream job is to become a photographer and film maker much like David. His over the top tongue in cheek style has been something which I have replicated with my work. I don’t know if there’s any artist whose career I’d like to replicate more than his….with my own unique twists of course.
In 10th grade, I went to the movies at the Sherman Oaks Galleria to see a film called Crash. As the trailer played, a film came on about a dance craze born out of the ghettos of Los Angeles. It was called krumping and the film was Rize, directed by David LaChapelle. From the trailer alone, I knew that I needed to see that film. The imagery, the music, the dancing, it was stunning. I went on to see Rize a staggering 5 times in theaters, owned the cd, met the cast, obsessed over the film. To this day, Rize had been a documentary which has inspired my work. Its use of music with stunning imagery as well as its ability to allow the interviewees to tell the story without any form of manipulation have all been things which I’ve tried to emulate with my work.
So I think you guys can see just how much Dave’s work has meant to me throughout my life so you can only imagine what it as like to finally get the chance to meet him at the Prince concert. I told him just about everything that I’ve wanted to say since the age of 13 and was able to some up all of my emotions from more than 8 years in two simple words……thank you.