FEATURE:
Back Inside the Rainbow
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/Brown Book Group
John Carder Bush’s Must-Buy Kate Bush Photobook
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I have already…
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/Brown Book Group
done a feature about the photobook that was originally released in 2015. This year will see at least a couple of new photo collections. Finding Kate is a crowdfunded book that is coming out in December. It is intended to “visually and textually celebrates the genius and the music of Kate”. A book from Max Browne collates photos he took during Bush’s 1979 The Tour of Life. Her only tour was a groundbreaking event. Browne’s photos capture a then-twenty-year-old wowing audiences around the U.K. and Europe. I am not betting against other photobooks being released in 2021! There has been so much activity regarding Kate Bush this part year or so. I have bemoaned the fact that not many photobooks are out there. I would still like to see a more general assortment of press photos and those that chart Bush through her career. I am intending to buy Finding Kate (from Michael Byrne and Marius Herbert); I will also check out Max Browne’s book. I think the best photobook so far – not taking into account the new releases – is John Carder Bush’s KATE: Inside the Rainbow. This book is a prized possession. The fact that the photos were shot by her brother lends the book an intimacy and sense of trust that Bush did not have with other photographers. Although photographers like Guido Harari and Gered Mankowitz – both of whom have released books of their Bush photos (they are priced in the hundreds, hence the reason I do not own them) – worked with Bush and they snapped some iconic shots, I feel John Carder Bush took some of the most enduring and phenomenal shots of his sister.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/Brown Book Group
If you are a Kate Bush fan but are not familiar with the book, then here is some more detail about a collection of photos that move the heart and imagination:
“KATE: Inside the Rainbow is a collection of beautiful images from throughout Kate Bush’s career, taken by her brother, the photographer and writer John Carder Bush. It includes outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from sessions including The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, as well as rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including ‘Army Dreamers’ and ‘Running Up that Hill’.
These stunning images will be accompanied by two new essays by John Carder Bush: From Cathy to Kate, describing in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the early, whirlwind days of Kate’s career, and Chasing the Shot, which vividly evokes John’s experience of photographing his sister.
A beautiful, full-colour coffee-table hardback with a quarter-bound linen cover and head and tail bands
Includes more than 250 stunning rare and unpublished black and white and colour photographs, taken between 1964 and 2011”.
At just £40 (which is what I paid for it), KATE: Inside the Rainbow is amazing value for such a handsome and passionate collection of photos and words from John Carder Bush! There is some good news for those who do not have a copy.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/Brown Book Group
Maybe due to popular demand, it is very hard to find a new copy of KATE: Inside the Rainbow. As Kate Bush News reported recently, you will be able to buy a copy in June:
“Kate’s brother, John Carder Bush, has let me know that his stunning book of photographs of Kate throughout her career, Kate: Inside the Rainbow (currently out of print) will be reprinted by Little, Brown and made available again from June 2021. We will have ordering links for you when it is available. This is great news for anyone put off by the ever-increasing prices the book is being sold for on the used book market these days.
Kate: Inside the Rainbow includes outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from sessions including The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, as well as rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including ‘Army Dreamers’ and ‘Running Up that Hill’.
These stunning images are accompanied by two new essays by John: ‘From Cathy to Kate’, describing in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the early, whirlwind days of Kate’s career, and ‘Chasing the Shot’, which vividly evokes John’s experience of photographing his sister. Kate personally helped John to choose the final selection of shots. A limited signed boxed edition of 500 copies with three fine-art prints sold out rapidly when the book was first released in October 2015”.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/Brown Book Group
I want to round things off by bringing in an interview John Carder Bush conducted with Attitude back in 2015. It is fascinating hearing his thoughts on his sister and why he put out KATE: Inside the Rainbow:
“Kate: Inside The Rainbow is a collection of beautiful images from throughout her career, from her early days pre-Wuthering Heights right up to her most recent album, 2011's 50 Words For Snow. It includes outtakes from classic album shoots, rare studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, plus many other candid shots from John's years turning the camera on his sister. Basically, Kate Bush fans: here's your new bible. John Carder Bush himself tells Attitude about this amazing project, some 40-odd years in the making... John, Kate - Inside The Rainbow is just gorgeous. Why did now feel like the right time to put a book like this together? I think the timing of this book was dictated by the reprint of Cathy [last year]. So many people had shown an interest in that book long after it went out of print, and it seemed logical to see what would happen if I brought it up to date. Originally, when I published Cathy back in 1986, I had planned to do three books – Cathy, Catherine and Kate, but like so many ambitious plans, it never happened.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/Brown Book Group
Let’s start with those earliest photos you took of your sister, the ones that formed the book Cathy. Was it a case of your little sister being an easy subject to practice on, or were you aware even in those early days that there was a 'star quality' to her? In those days I had only just started to feel that the camera could evoke something I wanted to express about childhood and the world of the imagination that so many children live in. I was also excited by my personal discovery of the pre-Raphaelites and had started collecting illustrated books of the turn of the century, which nobody was interested in in the early sixties and could be bought for next to nothing. My little sister was the perfect model, and although I was pleased with the results, I don’t think I detected star quality – we were a long way away from the her future career; when you know someone so well and see them every day of your life, you just don’t notice that kind of thing, although looking at them now it is quite clear she had something special.
This feels about as close to an ‘official’ retrospective book of Kate’s career as we might get. What are her thoughts on it? I first discussed the book with Kate back in the summer of 2014. The live shows then swept her away for a few months. When I had done a preliminary selection of photos and written the text, I showed them to her for her comments and I then worked with her final selection of images for the rest of the project. As I remember, she pointed out that she had ten ‘O’ levels, when I had put nine.
When you look through the images in the book, do you see changes develop as the years go on? There’s a sophistication that seems to really develop in Kate’s imagery from Hounds of Love onwards… Yes, I agree. You can see the development in the sense that she becomes more expert at conscious projection, more confident in knowing what works and what does not, and I think the same thing applies to my photography. One thing that strikes me, looking through the book, is her willingness to try different things - poses, props, costumes etc - in the pursuit of a great shot. Did either of you take the lead in those situations, or was it quite a 50/50 partnership? I think this is dictated by two different things. With album and single shots, there is a very specific intention to project a persona that matches the songs; with promotional shots, variety becomes very important otherwise every session would have looked the same. With album and single sessions, Kate always had a very definite idea of what she wanted before she stepped in front of the camera and it was a question of trying to realise that in a photographic context.
I loved reading your thoughts on Before The Dawn - it was the sort of thing fans couldn’t really have imagined would ever happen. Do you have any idea where Kate’s headed next? New music, or a continuation of Before The Dawn perhaps? The silence that usually surrounds Kate between projects in a ‘golden silence’, and out of that ‘golden silence’ always comes a golden nugget of creativity, like Before the Dawn. Let’s wait and see…
Before the Dawn was really the first big opportunity for many Kate Bush fans to interact, to feel part of a community. Have you had much interaction with Kate Bush fans over the years? There has always been a very active and fertile fan scene around Kate and her music even when there has not been any new product for a few years. Kate fans are very dedicated people, and the depth and originality of her work has allowed them to maintain an ongoing dialogue with each other that is quite unique. Certainly, Before the Dawn was a wonderfully dynamic coming together of that energy, and sitting in the audience I could feel their love for her as an overwhelming presence. Over the years, I have developed some friendships with a few of her fans that I value highly”.
I have been compelled to look back through KATE: Inside the Rainbow. It makes me curious whether we will see any more photos from John Carder Bush. He shot some promotional images for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. If there is another album from Bush, I do hope that we get some more photos from her brother. Every page and photo has a story behind it - and it is remarkable looking through KATE: Inside the Rainbow and all the different guises and looks from the iconic Kate Bush. When the book is back in print in June, do maker sure that you…
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/Brown Book Group
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