FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love at Forty
ALL PHOTOS: Guido Harari (except the Hounds of Love cover; photo by John Carder Bush)
Nineteen: Inside Guido Harari’s Fascinating Photoshoot
__________
THE penultimate feature…
of my twenty-feature run celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Kate Bush’s Hound of Love on 16th September sort of returns to the very first feature. For that, I looked at the cover shoot and that brilliant shot from her brother, John Carder Bush. How it took a long time to set up. However, the final result, where Bush is lying with her dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, is perfect! For the final feature, I am going to explore the legacy of Hounds of Love. I will take from PROG’s recent edition, where they celebrate forty years of Hounds of Love. One of the sections that particularly appealed to me is there they look at some of the promotional images from 1985. Those taken by Guido Harari. Taking his words and photos from his book, THE KATE INSIDE, we get an insight into the importance of these images and how the session took place. His personal recollections of working with Kate Bush. They collaborated between 1982 and 1993, though the photos he took around Hounds of Love might be his finest. I am going to quote from the article in PROG and some of the standout words from Harari. He remembers how Bush would not fax or do anything like that. She preferred to call. She called Harari to see if he would be up for shooting her early promotional images for Hounds of Love: “My heart was pounding as I set out to meet Kate and discuss the shoot at (East) Wickham Farm”. Up to this point, Guido Harari has photographed the likes of Peter Gabriel and Joni Mitchell. This was arguably his most important and best assignment. As he revealed: “But this offer from from Kate was too good to be true, and within days I flew to London”.
I do love the romance of him being called and then flying out to London (from Italy)! The excitement of spending valuable time with Kate Bush and capturing these early promotional images for what would be deemed her greatest work. He did not know that at the time. However, there is also the responsibility of coming up with concepts that would do justice to Hounds of Love and maybe match the mood of the album. After Bush sent a car to the airport to transport Harari to Welling, he started looking out at these “Flemish -looking skies filled with clouds, wondering what on earth to expect”. I guess his time with her for The Dreaming was done in studios and various locations. This was him meeting Kate Bush at her family home. Once he got there, Bush took him to the recording studio she had specially built. With no window between the recording and control rooms, he was not lucky enough to get a preview of the album. That might have helped his creative process and feel of the shoot. However, Bush rightly wanted Hounds of Love to remain private until she was ready. Bush told Harari how she moved from the city to countryside and took eighteen months to write and record this material. The rest of the time she spent recognising her own environment. “When you work intensely, if you want to stay in control of everything you do, it just takes much more time”. That was in response to Harari asking if she moved to the country to retain her sanity (Bush’s word, but that was his gist!). “The house seemed so silent, so quiet and so removed from the outside world”. Bush did not mind, as she said she didn’t have a thriving social life anyhow. “People who come here are not necessarily people I know, but people who are involved in my projects”. Bush said the way she worked is very “mental”, so she needed to get away from distractions and could not work out of these studios that cost a lot. Working hugely long days all week was too much.
Guido Harari noted how Bush was the warmest person he had met. Nothing like the people you see in her videos. In the sense you get these characters that can be more steely or bold. Softly-spoken and very hospitable, he asked her about the multiple voices that she brought into her music. A way of transcending the song and music. Bush said how writing a song was like writing a play. “You can almost hear a conversation going!”. Guido Harari realised how Gered Mankowitz has covered a lot of ground with his shots of Kate Bush taken during her first two albums – 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart –, and her brother John Carder Bush had developed these conceptual covers and fascinating shots. Bush, by 1985, was definitely making her videos more cinematic. Guido Harari, it appears, made suggests regarding locations – which Bush quietly skipped over or vetoed. “She took me aback by saying there was no need for further avenues. She had no fixed ideas except the general notion of a full day photo shoot”. Bush wanted a good range of photos that would be good for the press but, with no preconceived concepts or guidance, he had to capture the real Kate Bush with no mask. No script. It was quite daunting! Nobody had expressed such openness and honesty. Made him feel as trusted and spoken so softly. This was something that struck Guido Harari. “Time dims the memory a bit, but as I recall we very quickly decide that the best idea was to play together”. There is no huge planning ahead with celebrity shoots. When the lights are on and the Polaroids are coming out, Guido Harari said how you face the “challenge of chemistry, of shifting moods, and keeping contact with your subject at a high level”.
Back in Milan on 25th June (1985), Guido Harari and his assistant Neri Oddo spent the day painting cloth backdrops for the shoot. On 26th, they flew back to London and checked in at Waverley House, which was conveniently located close to Holborn Studios. The following day they were at the studio and ready. Noticing how there was a tiny door in the middle that would lead to a dressing room. Everything was taking shape. There was the painting of paper backdrops and setting up the lighting. The next day, the shoot would happen. Polaroid packs and Nikons armed and ready! Film holders out the bag and begging to be held. In a state of excitement, they ran across the road to a market to grab some crates which they used to fashion Japanese blinds that would “create a mood that would go with one of Kate’s kimonos”. On 28th, on the morning of the shoot, the expectation was making its weight felt. Kate Bush walked in with her hair and makeup artist, Tina Earnshaw. Refreshingly and wonderfully, there was not a pack of publicists, managers, record label people that were monitoring everything and making demands. This was Kate Bush and the absolute bare minimum in terms of personnel. Such a relief for a photographer who was flying blind a little in terms of the final vision and how the shoot would pan out! Not having to defer to record label flunkies and have his work scrutinised and changed, it was a dream start! Hair and makeup took about an hour. Even though this was Kate Bush pretty much at the height of her popularity and creative peak, there was no pressure at all. “The process was so unmannered, so matter-of-fact – so gloriously without bullshit”.
Guido Harari admired how Kate Bush could have this faraway look and then descended into giggles. You get these individual portraits and you can sense a mood, though it only tells a specific moment and expression. Getting a series of shots where she goes from straight to in stitches is more fluid and revealing, I feel. In order to break any ice that was there, Harari asked Bush to run around the studio so he could see the goofier side of her. Capturing her unguarded, he wasn’t meant to have any film in the camera. Like dance warm-up – which Bush would be familiar with -, this was a way to loosen up and prepare. Before getting down to the serious stuff! Instead, Bush was pulling funny faces and acting like a child; not sure of what was happening but very game and accommodating. In those days, they would create crescendos with makeup and clothing. Often going from the more casual to elaborate. “I love the series of photos with the pillbox hat. It was probably the only time Kate would wear high heels on the shoot, so I suggested she walk “against the wind” pretending she was losing her balance”. It is fascinating hearing these behind the scenes nuggets from Guido Harari. How he would overexpose the film one stop to avoid costly retouching. At one point, he saw Kate Bush’s dressing room door ajar – he would never venture in usually out of respect for her privacy – and he could overhear this conversation between her and Tina Earnshaw. Bush had this very heavy Japanese makeup on and her hair wasn’t quite set. She had some residue and makeup on her shoulders and her T-shirt. Seizing the opportunity for this unique and spontaneous shot, he dragged Bush into the studio and made sure powder did not fall off. Trusting Harari’s vision and process. He grabbed some red lipstick and put a smudge on her lips. Bush acknowledged him and gave her approval with a smile. I covered this a bit when recently including this very shot in a feature about Kate Bush and Guido Harari. Howe this shot (below) is among the most iconic. It definitely stands out as being unusual, vulnerable and very alluring!
They moved onto the Japanese blinds and kimono. The mood shifted to dark. At this point, they had been shooting for twelve hours without lunch or a break. There had been minimal conversation amidst the set changes. It is testament to the patience and professionalism of Kate Bush that she kept going but gave her all at all points! “We’d run of energy, but decided to proceed with two more shots with kimonos, including the one with Kate bathed in blue light against a blood-red backdrop”. At around one in the morning, Bush asked Harari if he was a bit tired. They binned the idea of one last shot with UV lights. Harari was “pretty sure we had a great number of beautiful images that would please both Kate and EMI. The shoot certainly did the business for Hounds Of Love: photos would be published all over the world and years later in the boxset This Woman’s Work”. You can purchase THE KATE INSIDE and get a physical copy of this wonderful book with those shots. From the initial phone call, right through to that tiring early-morning hour where they wrapped up, it was quite a process! No doubt so many happy memories for Guido Harari (and Kate Bush). What we got are some of the best images of Kate Bush. You can see the trust and respect between them. How comfortable she felt. Someone Bush trusted and knew would deliver something special, we all have our favourite Guido Harari Hounds of Love photos. I love that look of her in Japanese makeup with the smudge of lipstick. I also love the shot with her in a gold jacket and her with eyes closed (at the very top of this feature). So enticing, romantic and peaceful, it has been a treat exploring the process and itinerary of a fabulous photoshoot! This beautiful union between a genius and warm-hearted artist and…
A masterful photographer.