FEATURE:
Back Into the Habit
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1983/ALL PHOTOS: Brian Griffin
Kate Bush and Her Captivating Shoot with Brian Griffin in 1983
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I have written about this previously…
IN THIS PHOTO: For the cover of Depeche Mode’s 1982, A Broken Frame, Brian Griffin transposed Soviet social realism to a cornfield off the M11 in East Anglia/ALL PHOTOS: Brian Griffin
but it is worth coming back, as this photoshoot is one of the best of Kate Bush’s career. In 1982, Depeche Mode released an album called A Broken Frame. It was released a matter of days after Kate Bush’s The Dreaming. There was something about this cover that caught her eye. It is an iconic shot by the late Brian Griffin. A Broken Frame’s cover depicts a woman harvesting grain in a field. It was inspired by Socialist Realism and German Romanticism, and it was later featured by Life Magazine as one of the best photographs of the 1980s. Brian Griffin sadly died in 2024 at the age of seventy-five. It is always sad when we lose someone in Kate Bush’s universe. Anyone connected to her or has appeared in her world. Whether a dance, musician or photographer, what makes it sadder is a lot of people do not know about this photopaper. We associate Kate Bush with photographers like Gered Mankowitz, Guido Harari and her brother, John Carder Bush. There are others, like Anton Corbijn, Brian Aris, and Trevor Leighton who have made their impact at various stages, that might not be as discussed as ‘the big three’ as I call them. The huge connection and vital work of Mankowitz, Bush and Harari. A lot of the shoots that we see from these photographers is related to albums. Part of the promotion and something relevant. However, this photoshoot seems to have had no commercial impetus or been tied to an album. I think Brian Griffin said on his website how he had a bit of a crush on Kate Bush and he was a bit smitten (him and everyone who photographed her). By all accounts, she was verry keen and so professional. It was said how Kate Bush was driven to Griffin’s location. Brian Griffin recalled how Bush was waiting at 6:30 one morning on the pavement outside of his studio in Rotherhithe Street. Being so close to where Bush lived (she would have split her time between South London and her family home in Kent). Griffin described Bush as this extraordinary and unforgettable personality to work with. Bush loved his work on The Broken Frame and she commissioned him for a similar, rustic, and scenic shoot in 1983 near his home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, involving a full creative team.
You can see some of his other photos here. Such an incredible talent, it was amazing to see him hook up with Kate Bush. There is a double meaning to calling the shoot ‘Into the Habit’. I am not sure if that was an official title at the time, but it has come to be known as that. The habit being a nun’s headdress. However, it also is Bush engaging in movement and dance. You can see her moving and so physical in the shoot. There was a period between The Dreaming and Hounds of Love where she stopped dancing, had a poor diet and was suffering exhaustion. By 1983, she was very much recommitting to dance. Also, in terms of photos, this was Kate Bush with a new energy. The Dreaming did take a lot out of her. She produced the album and was working all hours. It was such a tiring and intense time. It is no surprise that she needed bedrest and time off. That did not last too long. She has to promote The Dreaming from September 1982 pretty much until the end of the year. By 1983, there were changes in Bush’s life. One of her happiest years. She and her boyfriend Del Palmer bought a cottage in Kent and there was this rural retreat. I am not sure whether that was before or after this shoot. However, in the summer of 1983, bush was gardening and spending time with family and friends. Going to the cinema and planning her next moves. She would have built a bespoke studio right by her family home at East Wickham Farm and start demos and the framework for Hounds of Love tracks. It was a great year all things considered. Perhaps in this happier and more relaxed frame of mind, Bush did not need to do the photoshoot. This was not to promote a single or anything tied to Hounds of Love. What is interesting is most critics felt Kate Bush sort of disappeared after The Dreaminmg. Just before Hounds of Love came out, wondering where she was. Did they see the 1983 shoot?! Perhaps 1984 was a quiet year for her, though Bush was keeping pretty busy.
I am not sure whether there have been modern examples of artists loving an album cover and asking the photographer to do something similar for a separate photoshoot. So inspired and struck by this Brian Griffin image, Kate Bush contacted him and wondered if he could recreate that cover but have her at the front. I have not seen many people talk about this photoshoot. It is also extraordinary seeing Kate Bush as this nun in a field. In 2017, Brian Griffin discussed some of his iconic 1980s shoots and memories of them. This is what he said of working when Kate Bush when chatting with i-D - https://i-d.co/article/photographer-brian-griffin-interview/: “Kate had seen A Broken Frame by Depeche Mode and really liked the image in the cornfield. She saw that and she wanted something in a similar category. So therefore I found a field that we could work in, which was near my home in High Wycombe. We drove up there with the location person, make-up, hair, stylists, assistants, lights and did it in a field. She’s an amazing woman, just extraordinary. That’s all you can say, really. Extraordinary. A personality that you’ll never forget. Just to spend a day with her…”. It is a shame that the photos were not used for something wider. A Kate Bush E.P. or project. Brian Griffin did show the photos at an exhibition, though you sort of feel they are too good to be hidden now. I have said how we need a Kate Bush exhibition and a lot of the brilliant photos of her displayed. The ones she took with Brian Griffin in 1983 are among the best of her. Seeing her in this particular guise. I guess someone very pious or devout could ask if it is blasphemous or sacrilege having Bush dressed as a nun. Rather, this is Bush influenced by a Depeche Mode album cover and loving that image. Bush looks beautiful in the photos. For anyone driving near that field and seeing Kate Bush in the se poses must have got quite a surprise! In a massive year for Kate Bush where she was sowing the seeds for Hounds of Love and was in a happier headspace, there was this wonderful photoshoot that she did because she loved the cover for A Broken Frame. More people need to discuss these…
SIMPLY phenomenal images.