Musicians have come to trust that visual instinct implicitly. "He has an understanding and an ability to manipulate light, and far beyond that a love and desire to perceive the human condition," says Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.
M. Corbijn has photographed Stipe neck-high in the ocean and once woke him at 6 a.m.
to catch the dawn light for a shoot. It's a testament to the respect Corbijn commands that pampered rock stars let him photograph them crawling naked along a riverbank (Iggy Pop), cross-dressing (Dave Grohl) or in a loincloth (David Bowie). They turn to him even in the full knowledge that he is liable to ignore their lyrics and make a video reinterpreting their song with his own narrative.
"All my ideas come from the sound rather than the lyrics," says Corbijn. Rather than capturing stars in clich d poses, Corbijn has always gone to great lengths to tell the story he sees.
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