Rangefinder Magazine
July 2006

Chris Buck by Lorraine A. DarConte
Reaching for the Stars

Grady Turner, executive curator of the Museum of Sex: shot for The New York Times Magazine, New York, August 2002, with a Mamiya RZ67 and strobe lighting; painting: cover of Whisper magazine, January 1951, by Peter Driben, courtesy of Louis K. Meisel Gallery & Charles G. Martignette

Chris Buck didn’t become a photographer to shoot celebrities, but his interest in celebrity and pop culture eventually led him down that path. “Luckily,” states Buck, “since there’s such a specific market for it, I found a way to make a living doing something I thought was really fun.” Because he knew early on what he wanted to focus on, he was able to build his portfolio while still in school at Canada’s Ryerson University and while living at home.

“I had a competent book to show around,” says Buck, “but more importantly, I already had a point of view.” As a student, Buck didn’t have access to big name celebrities, but he was able to convince some upand- coming musicians to pose for him. “I was shooting underground bands [coming through Toronto] from California and/or England. I was lucky; I could go to a small nightclub, and my favorite band would be playing. I’d go over to them during a sound check and ask if I could take a portrait— and they’d usually say ‘maybe.’

John Woo: shot for personal use, June 1994, Santa Monica, CA, daylight

“I’d hang around the entire show waiting for them to decide what mood they were in and whether or not they’d allow me to take their picture. That was how I built up my original portfolio of actual portraits as opposed to live performance shots or those taken at press conferences. I brought work to potential clients that actually looked like what I might shoot if they were to hire me.” Buck’s subjects are usually photographed with natural light, which gives his images a distinct look and feel. “I think my style is less defined than that of a lot of successful photographers,” he explains. Some of the elements consistent throughout his images are his clean compositions and a subtle sense of humor, which, more often than not, requires a double take. “I like to keep it simple, but there’s usually something else going on,” he states.

“A lot of celebrity portraits tend to be nice pictures of the celebrity looking presentable; they tend to be more glamorous than curious, but I lean more toward the curious. People often look a bit uneasy or uncomfortable in my pictures. In a way, I find vulnerability more interesting than confidence. It’s not that I want people to look bad, but I think humanity is shown more through vulnerability than through heroism. I think a lot of portraits look heroic, and as a viewer I don’t find it interesting to look at a picture of someone celebrating himself as a great person in a literal way.

Missy Elliott: shot for Details, New York, February 1998, with a Mamiya RZ67 and strobe lighting

Richard Avedon and Irving Penn were great pioneers of making images that were respectful of their subjects but also showed the subjects’ humanity,” notes Buck. Photographing celebrities, at least on the surface, appears to be very attractive work, but there are pros and cons to every job. One of the pros of shooting well known folk—and it isn’t necessarily a good thing, notes Buck—is people like your pictures even if they aren’t interesting because the person is famous. “I have pictures that, as photographs, are nothing special, but people get excited because it’s a photo of someone very famous.”

As for the cons, we’ve all read, heard, or suspected that sometimes the rich and famous can be a little demanding. “Publicists can sometimes be a problem if they feel the subject should get different treatment than I’m likely to give,” says Buck. “That can cause some discussion.” But when it comes to final approval of an image, it’s Buck and his client who are in control. “I’ve never done a job where the subject insisted on approval—though they’ve certainly asked for it.”

Puffy (aka P. Diddy): shot for The Source, North Hampton, Long Island, July 1997, with a Mamiya RZ67 and Metz Flash on camera for fill

Getting the Shot

Although Buck is often free to do as he pleases when it comes to artistic direction, he frequently works with art directors. “And,” he says, “I’m really happy to—especially at this point; I’m given a fair amount of leeway because people tend to hire me for what I do. They’re not going to hire me to shoot an interesting picture and then try to take away everything that’s interesting about it.

“With that said, over the years I’ve always made a point to shoot something for myself along the way. And that’s something I advise a lot of young photographers to do. If you get an assignment, you should take some kind of shot that you might be able to put in your portfolio, even if it’s just a chef at a restaurant. Do the standard shot that’s expected of you, but also do something utilizing beautiful lighting, or a tight face shot—whatever you can do that will be more interesting to you as an artist. You should use those circumstances to build your portfolio and also to figure out who you are.”

John C. Reilly with Philip Seymour Hoffman: shot for Time Out New York magazine, New York, February 2000, with a Mamiya RZ67 and strobe lighting

Buck photographs with a mix of cameras, including a Mamiya RZ67, a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and assorted mediumformat cameras with digital backs. “It depends on what I’m doing,” explains Buck. “If I’m on location, I might use the 35mm, but in the studio I use medium format.” Buck enjoys photographing a wide variety of public figures, from movie stars to politicians to sports figures, but he doesn’t do any reportage or frontline news-type work. “It doesn’t interest me, and frankly there are others who do it better than I would. However, I do a lot of advertising work, which I really enjoy.”

Buck also likes shooting so-called “regular people” and conceptual pictures, such as the images he created for Newsweek about Sigmund Freud. “We got an old psychiatrist’s couch from the early part of the 20th century,” says Buck, “and placed it in contemporary environments like an escalator in a mall and the front lawn of a home with a family playing catch.

Ewan McGregor: shot for Entertainment Weekly; New York, May 1996, with a Hasselblad and window light

We placed it in ordinary, everyday environments to show how much Freud has influenced our lives, even though we don’t think about it. It was a fun story.” People often ask Buck about the people he’s photographed, and which ones were the most fun to work with. “Often the ones that look like they’re a lot of fun, aren’t,” he says. “Comedians are sometimes funny, but usually we’re just working hard. A fun shoot for me was director John Woo. In fact, it was so much fun, the shoot was in danger of going off the rails. I actually worried we didn’t get any good pictures.” As he gets older, Buck finds his work even more enjoyable.

“When I started working, everyone I photographed was older than me. Now I’m photographing more and more people around my age, and that’s really nice because you tend to make an easier connection with them. You have the same cultural references; there’s a certain ease. They get what I’m saying, and I think the connection shows in the pictures.”

Dennis Hopper, shot on spec for Details, Toronto, Ont., January 1990, with a Canon A-1 and window light

Marketing Strategies

“To some extent,” concludes Buck, “being a photographer is a funny thing: You need to be really driven and really focused on your goals and moving aggressively toward them. At the same time, you have to be very patient. I think young photographers see a handful of photographers—such as David LaChapelle— who’ve become really big really quickly, and somehow imagine that’s how it is. The fact is, most of us who are successful, working photographers have been working a long time and built up our careers over 15 to 20 years by keeping professional and focused on long-term goals. And of course, one finds satisfaction in individual jobs as well.”

No matter the business, you never know what’s going to get you noticed—or not. Buck and his agent, Julian Richards, have always done what they think is interesting and what they appreciate. “We do direct mailers either as a group or individual photographers, and I always send work into the photography annuals. I don’t always get in, but I always submit photos to at least a few every year. Editorial has become one form of marketing my photography, as advertising is the main thrust of my work now. One of the key things for me is to shoot a lot,” concludes Buck.

“That’s really the best marketing I can do—for people to see me working and see the work. It also keeps me in good shape for when big important jobs come in—I’ve totally got my chops up, and I’m raring to go.”

Chris Buck’s clients include Citibank, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Hitachi, AOL Moviefone, Esquire, Outside, Premiere, Blender, Entertainment Weekly, Flaunt and The New York Times Magazine.

To view more of his work, visit www.chrisbuck.com.

Lorraine A. DarConte is a freelance writer/photographer living in Tucson, Arizona. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Rangefinder, Studio Photography & Design, Newsday and Tucson Visitors Guide.