BOWIE NIGHTS: BEHIND THE LENSPHOTOGRAPHERS REVEAL THE UNTOLD STORIES BEHIND THEIR WORK WITH DAVID BOWIE
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
WEDNESDAY 27TH MAY: Six renowned photographers known for their work with music legend David Bowie gathered for a one-off event at Lightroom in King's Cross on Tuesday May 26.
Bowie Nights: Behind the Lens, presented by journalist and author Miranda Sawyer, saw Bowie's collaborators Geoff MacCormack, Kevin Cummins, Richard Young, Denis O'Regan, Tony McGee and Chris Duffy shed light on the creative process of one of the world's most adored and ever-evolving artists. The photographers shared unheard stories and images from their time working with Bowie, revealing what it was like to add to the mystique of one of pop's great stars.
The event was one in a series of Bowie Nights, coinciding with Lightroom's acclaimed immersive show David Bowie: You're Not Alone, which is showing daily.
Richard Young photographed Bowie during the Thin White Duke era including the 1976 Victoria Station arrival. Last night, he exhibited a photo of Bowie performing as the Elephant Man in New York in 1980, exemplifying Bowie's artistry beyond music through an intimate and exposed moment on stage.
Denis O'Regan, who became Bowie's official tour photographer, most notably during Serious Moonlight, provided a memorable anecdote of Bowie disliking riding in a tuk-tuk which was spewing fumes directly into his face - saying: "The thing that people didn't realise about him was just how normal and sweet he was, which is not what I expected when I first started working with him."
Geoff MacCormack, Bowie's childhood friend, travelled with Bowie from 1973–76 photographing him across multiple countries. He exhibited a photo of Bowie writing the lyrics for the album Station to Station at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. He spoke of how Bowie "wrote on the hoof", exemplifying how Bowie's process blurred art and lived experience. MacCormack said: "On this album, and probably others, he lived it and wrote it as he was living it. This was especially a tough album. He'd done Young Americans just before which was completely separate and this was, again, new territory. I think there's a link between what he did after, in Germany, from this album".
Tony McGee, who worked with Bowie for over 30 years, starting with the 1983 Serious Moonlight publicity shoot, exemplified Bowie's fascination with atmosphere and sound. Talking about a photograph, depicting Bowie sitting by a radio with a wide grin on his face, McGee revealed the unlikely channel they were tuned into was the BBC World Service Shipping Forecast. David was having a laugh about the stern English voice warning of strong gusts near Orkney, Tony explaining that "It shows really just how much fun David was".
Bowie's understanding of the media landscape and instinctive ease with the camera was explored, too. Denis O'Regan explained that Bowie grasped the importance of photos, telling the audience: "He'd say 'we'll keep this one for the book', or, 'this could be used for the press'".
Kevin Cummins, who began documenting Bowie in 1973 on the Ziggy Stardust tour and later compiled decades of work in David Bowie: Mixing Memory & Desire, similarly explained that Bowie would never refuse a photo, and was very comfortable in front of the camera.
He joked: "Photographing Bowie is like trying to get a new picture of the Eiffel Tower. He's been photographed by everybody so how do you do something different? What he was really good at was letting you do your own work, he wouldn't interfere. If you said 'this is the idea for the shot', he'd say 'go ahead and do it', and then he'd do the Bowie faces and do the right thing for you".
Chris Duffy, the son of Brian Duffy, preserves and documents Bowie's archive of iconic sessions including Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Scary Monsters - and who himself photographed David Bowie said: "You put a camera in front of him and he just took off, you didn't need to direct him at all. He understood exactly how he was projecting and how he looked."
The technical process behind some of Bowie's most iconic images was also revealed. The cover of Aladdin Sane, referred to by Chris Duffy as the "Mona Lisa of pop", was shot with a technique used by Duffy in the '60s, utilising tungsten light and long exposure. This image, which holds huge significance in Bowie's legacy, was investigated and explained in detail never heard before.
The event was part of the Bowie Nights series at Lightroom, coinciding with the acclaimed new immersive production David Bowie: You're Not Alone, which is showing daily.
The event was part of Lightroom's Bowie Nights season, curated to run a series of cross-disciplinary Spring and Summer events celebrating the life and work of Bowie, featuring major artists including Jonathan Barnbrook and Adam Buxton. The season will run from May to September 2026. Audiences can sign up to Lightroom's mailing list HERE for further details and first chance to purchase tickets.
Each Bowie Night will take place at Lightroom in King's Cross, the unique immersive venue which will host the major new production David Bowie: You're Not Alone, open now. Tickets can be found HERE.
Written and directed by 59's Mark Grimmer (Creative Director for the V&A's David Bowie Is exhibition) and Tom Wexler, it showcases some of Bowie's landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mixture of iconic material, selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, from Space Odditythrough Diamond Dogs and Let's Dance to ★.
Audiences will have the chance to feel they have travelled through time to experience Bowie in performance - up close and first-hand. Each track in the show has been newly reconfigured to utilise Lightroom's specialised spatial audio system by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry (Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, David Bowie Is). The show is fully authorised by the David Bowie Estate.
Buy 'Bowie Nights' tickets here
Buy 'David Bowie: You're Not Alone' tickets here
Tickets for David Bowie: You're Not Alone are now on sale and priced from £25 for adults and £15 for students and concessions.
Tickets are available now until 10 October 10.