For renowned music photographer Dennis Morris; taking that legendary picture all comes down to timing: "Photography, the essence of it, will always be about capturing that moment...it's always been about that moment for me, and then it becomes iconic."
Getting his own break on the back of a chance shoot with Bob Marley before he became a global phenomenon, could this be a case of when life imitates art?
Hearing that Bob Marley and the Wailers were embarking on a UK tour, Morris ventured down to The Speakeasy Club in West London and after hanging around for them to turn up, he boldly asked if he could take their picture. With a reply of "Yeah man, come in," Morris was allowed exclusive access and his career as one of the biggest British rock photographers was born.
Morris went on to take pictures of the likes of Marianne Faithfull, The Sex Pistols and the Stone Roses -- the latter of which he has over 1000 images soon to become a book called "This Is The One." In the video above, Morris talks to Crane.tv about how to get the best out of the talent he photographs: "It's a bit like blind dating. Okay how am I going to get round this girl? And we start flirting with each other basically."
When Morris met the illustrious Marianne Faithfull, he had to adopt other methods to photograph the star: "She likes to drink, so we literally got blind drunk," he said. It was while Faithfull was rolling around on the floor that she went to move her hair and Morris caught the image that became the cover to her celebrated 1979 album Broken English. Even when intoxicated it seems Morris' timing never misses a beat.
Text by Leila deVito for Crane.tv
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