Never Do Normal Things! – Conversation with Bryan Adams

I have to admit right at the beginning that until last year, when I had the honour to meet you briefly during the Photo London festival, I had had no idea you were not only an admirer of the photographic art, but a photographer yourself. Most people know you as one of the best-selling musicians in the world, and few are aware of this angle of your creativity. I would therefore like to ask you: Where does music end for you and where does photography begin? Do they overlap? And what does photography mean to you?

Music and photography have always been intertwined. I can’t think of any artist without a picture popping up in my head. Creating music, photos or videos is basically what I do every day, and even more so than ever before. The internet suddenly requires a lot more content, videos, images… everything. It can get irritating to me sometimes.

You started your photography career as a fashion photographer. It was Herb Ritts who encouraged you to realize your photographic ambitions. When I look at the images from your Exposed series and the book with the same title, I see hints of sex and rock’n'roll by Helmut Newton, I see photos of Richard Avedon taking models out to the streets, the white backgrounds of Irving Penn, as well as the visuality of Peter Lindberg who tells stories with his photographs. Who was and is your greatest inspiration and who has had the greatest influence on you?

Avedon’s photos are probably my favourite, but Herb was very supportive of me while he was still alive. In fact, when I’m in Los Angeles, I still work with his first assistant, David. I love the power of minimalist imagery. Ritts and Avedon were masters at it.

Does the fact that you share the same experience with these celebrities help you create better portraits?

I’m not sure, people are people. I just treat people the way I expect them to treat me, it’s really that simple.

What do you think makes an excellent portrait? What is it that has to be in it? What are you looking for in a portrait?

A great photo doesn’t have to be technically perfect, it has to be memorable.

Does photography allow you to creatively express something that may not be possible with music?

When I look back at all the video clips I have made, it seems to me that there were only a few directors who understood how to combine music with image. Marcus Nispel, who directed two of my videos, once told me something I’ll never forget: “Never do normal things.” And that remained in me.

You often speak out against war or violence against animals, among other things. Do you have any specific method to use photography for protest or support? Is there a most effective way at all to achieve such a thing?

Photography is indeed an effective way to express yourself. I have published two books, both containing portraits of people who have gone through difficult situations in their lives. The first is called Wounded: The Legacy of War (Steidl, 2013) and is a book about wounded soldiers who returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The second, entitled Homeless (Steidl, 2019), is a series of portraits of homeless people in London. The pictures for both books were taken in my London studio, and the process of creating both took several years. My aim was to provoke people to think about certain topics, to discuss them.

In this series, you present provocative portraits of young British soldiers who paid a high price for the war. Although the photos were created long ago, they are still very real, all the more so as war rages in our neighbouring country, Ukraine. You said in an interview: ‘One of the most important things is that people use their cameras to document atrocities. Everyone is a photojournalist.’ Why do you think we see something and forget about it in a moment? Why can’t we learn from our past?

It’s hard to know where to get the truth or whom to trust. Almost every war is related to fighting for land and/or money. Lately, it seems to be about who is in control of our energy.