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People you didn't know were photographers

Some famous celebrities who love photography


Delve into the surprising world of well-known personalities who have ventured into the realm of photography.From celebrated filmmakers like Wim Wenders to other unexpected artists, explore how their creative visions extend beyond their primary fields.




Waheeda Rehman, Indian Actress

At the age of 81, Waheeda is pursuing her hobby of wildlife photography after winning everyone's hearts on the silver screen. She stresses on the importance of following one's hobbies and interests, and expressed her love for capturing moments I have always loved taking pictures. As she told a leading daily, “I have always loved taking pictures. When I was young, I would carry a small camera with me on the sets.”




Ringo Starr, English Drummer & Musician

“Every time I see your face it reminds me of the places we used to go…” sings Ringo Starr in his song Photograph, co-written with George Harrison on a yacht in the south of France in 1971. Much of the world may not be aware that Ringo is also a photographer who chronicled the frequent travels of The Beatles during their heyday in the 1960s. “There’s only like five photos of me from birth to 18,say. There wasn’t a lot of cameras in the family, and then I went camera mad."



Jeff Bridges, American Actor

2001: A Space Odyssey runs for two hours and 44 minutes. Astonishingly, there are 88 minutes without dialogue. Let that sink in, if you didn’t already know. Eighty-eight minutes of exclusively visual storytelling. I saw the movie on wide-screen and the images were huge. Every shot, even the close-ups, was an expanse of detail. “I did not become a filmmaker or an astronaut but I did fall in love with that way of seeing. Forget the mega lens, wide angle held the most promise for me.”



Jessica Lange, American Actress

“I’d go down into the basement after the kids were in bed, put on some Al Green and Sam Cooke, and develop pictures.” Jessica says “It’s a great counterpoint to filmmaking, because it’s such a private, solitary experience. It’s like writing or painting; it’s something you can do on your own. Acting is a co-dependent art form, and the actor is not in control. And filmmaking definitely informs the decision to photograph something. I’m drawn to situations with a dramatic feel to them as far as lighting or backdrop or people’s presence, the way someone stands.”



Wim Wendres, German Filmmaker

The culture has changed. It has all gone. I really don’t know why we stick to the word photography any more. There should be a different term, but nobody cared about finding it.

On many of his photographic works Wenders has written texts, whose rhythms are reminiscent of poems. In these texts he captures his personal impressions, observations and thoughts."one can use a camera like a recording device, which not necessarily only records sounds, but records what the place has to say.In the photograph he tells his story,being both actual history and fiction."





Stanley Kubrick, American Director
"Photography certainly gave me the first step up to movies. To make a film entirely by yourself, which I initially did, you may not have to know very much about anything else, but you must know about photography."

Kubrick’s father, a professional physician and amateur photographer introduced his son to photography at an early age. Before films, Kubrick was into photography. sixteen-year-old Stanley Kubrick published his first photograph. At Look, he progressed from apprentice to staff photographer in six months. He was the youngest photographer in the magazine’s history at just seventeen years old.



Boman Irani, Indian Actor
"Photography seemed to be a natural choice for Irani, whose father was a photographer. I never met my father, so it [a few cameras and some negatives] was the only thing that was a physical memory of him."

Although he took up photography when he became a father, he had read a lot of books on photography before that, and it soon became an outlet for expression.“Photography taught me patience. It taught me that art has an expression. I found a lot of solace, patience and discipline. It was a stepping stone to what I eventually wanted to do. Everything I want to express, started from photography."



Lenny Kravitz, American Musician

Photography has also been a part of his creative personality for a long time. In fact, Kravitz's first experiences in this field date back to his early childhood. The family home was not only full of music, but there was also the Leicaflex of his father, who had been a photojournalist for NBC news, before making a career as a film and television producer.  Kravitz remembers, "I used to play with my dad's Leica camera, but had no idea how to use it. I was attracted to the camera and the design."


Helena Christensen, Danish Model

"Seeing the world through a lens makes me more attentive to what happens around me. Both my father and my grandfather were avid photographers – I remember looking at their portraits of my relatives in our family albums when I was little, and I now recognise their talent through those pictures: the way they are cropped and composed, and the way the light falls. They are real treasures." Later Helena, decided to give modeling a go so that she could pursue a photography career.



Viggo Mortensen, American Actor

“These pictures are a part of my dream, of the way I exist and act in the world.”

Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. R is an American actor, writer, director, producer, musician, and multimedia artist. He is also the founder of Perceval Press, a small publishing house which has served as an outlet for Mortensen’s other talents: poetry, painting, photography and music. It has also published dozens of books and CDs featuring the work of other poets, artists and musicians




Linda McCartney, American Artist

“I was a bit shy and introverted, but looking out through the lens I saw, and I forgot myself and I could actually see life. This enthusiasm came out of me, and it did, photography changed my life in that way.”

Linda captured her life on camera: from the Swinging Sixties to the everyday moments of family life with celebrity husband Paul McCartney. She was the first female photographer to shoot a cover of Rolling Stone – she photographed Eric Clapton in 1968 – and had already established herself as an artist before she married Paul in 1969.



Dennis Hopper, American Actor/Director

“I never made a cent from these photographs. They cost me money but they kept me alive.”

Dennis Hopper picked up a camera in 1961 and began a parallel career as a photographer, taking shots on film sets, in diners and out in the landscape.Hopper had his own abstract, almost street photography, style. Rather than playing to stereotypical ideals of glamour, sun-drenched, poolside notions of Los Angeles, or rockers high on cocaine, Hopper’s photos have an abstract, almost gritty and more serious feel. They look like art.



Moby, American Musician
“I am more interested in documenting the world and presenting it to people with the question attached. Does this make any sense to you?”

Moby’s interest in photography emerged when he was only nine years old. His first camera was a Nikon F which was given to him by his uncle, a photographer with The New York Times. But only in 2011, when he was already famous, did Moby publish his first photobook entitled, Destructionin which he gathered together photographs taken during his tours.



Bryan Adams, Canadian Singer

"The thing that was most interesting to me was getting my first prints back from the printer and realizing photography doesn't end with the click of a button, it starts there. Printing is so exciting."

Most people are aware of Bryan Adams, the musician, singer, songwriter - but did you know that he also has a successful career as a photographer? Adams has photographed for magazines including Interview, Harper’s Bazaar, and British and German Vogue. In 2003 he founded Zoo magazine for which he has received a Golden Federe Award. 



Curated and compiled by Hunny Awatramani and Brij Trivedi




 

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