Description
Size A4
The Power Station Capri Studio’s Italy 1996. Open Ended Prints.
Signed
Open Ended
The Power Station — Capri, Italy
Robert Palmer, Andy Taylor and Tony Thompson
I’ve worked with Andy Taylor a good few times over the years, both through Duran Duran and on his solo project Dangerous, so when the phone call came to photograph The Power Station in Capri, I was well chuufed.
Getting there was another matter.
My assistant and I flew into Naples and then jumped on a boat across to Capri. It took about 20 minutes, although it felt considerably longer once the boat started bouncing around on the waves.
I bumped into Robert Palmer, who had just been into Naples doing a bit of shopping. He was opening a bottle of Limoncello and, in what turned out to be questionable medical advice, told me it was good for settling your stomach on a choppy boat.
It definitely didn’t.
The Power Station — Robert Palmer, Andy Taylor and Tony Thompson — were in Capri in 1996 working on their second and final studio album, Living in Fear. They were recording and mixing at Capri Digital Studios and, staying there as well.
The studio was almost at the top of the island, and there are no cars aloud up there. Which sounds wonderfully romantic until you remember that you’re carrying three sets of cameras, lights, a tripod and enough other photographic equipment to open a small camera shop and a toothbrush.
So we set off walking uphill.
With everything.
By the time we got anywhere near the studio, I was sweating so much I looked like a drowned rat. There was a considerable amount of heavy breathing going on too, and not the glamorous rock ‘n’ roll sort.
Eventually we arrived, unpacked everything and went for a reccy.
This photograph was taken using my Mamiya 660 with Polaroid Type 55 film. One of the great things about Polaroid 55 was that it gave you an instant positive and a black-and-white negative, always loved using different techniques whether it was using different camera’s or back in the darkroom.
Looking back, there was something wonderfully organic about this way of working. You carried the gear, found the location, worked with whatever light you had and committed the photograph to film.
Although in this case, getting the equipment up the hill had probably taken more out of me than taking the photograph.
Capri, Robert Palmer, Andy Taylor, Tony Thompson, a bottle of Limoncello, a very unhelpful boat and enough camera equipment to require a small mule train.
Just another day at the office.
Please note that the paper size is always larger than the printed image. Info here.
