FEATURE:
Exploring John Carder Bush’s Kate: Inside the Rainbow
ALL PHOTOS: John Carder Bush
Rose: My Sister You Were Born…
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I am not certain…
how many features it will take, though I am determined to work through as much of John Carder Bush’s Kate: Inside the Rainbow as possible; commenting on some of his observations. Unfortunately, not a lot of the photos from the book are available online, though I would urge everyone to get the book. I am picking the colours of a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) and choosing different shades of these colours as titles and chapters. Even though I cannot include many photos, I will put in songs and interviews around the time. There are 288 pages, so I may have to skip some parts. Though, there is so much to uncover and investigate. I am going to include this synopsis in each feature:
“A MUST-HAVE COLLECTION OF RARE AND UNSEEN PHOTOGRAPHS OF KATE BUSH.
WITH ESSAYS BY HER BROTHER, JOHN CARDER BUSH, ABOUT KATE'S LIFE AND CAREER.
Stunning and unique images from throughout Kate Bush's career including:
Outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from The Dreaming and Hounds of Love sessions
Rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including 'Army Dreamers' and 'Running Up that Hill'
Includes original essays from Kate's brother:
From Cathy to Kate: Describes in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the whirlwind days of Kate's career
Chasing the Shot: A vivid evocation of John's experience of photographing his sister
'For me, each of these images forms part of a golden thread that shoots through the visual tapestry of Kate's remarkable career. Storytelling has always been the heartbeat of Kate's body of work, and it has been a privilege to capture these photographic illustrations that accompany those magical tales' John Carder Bush”.
Over a decade since Kate: Inside the Rainbow was published, I do think that it is one of those books that every fan should own. Rather than quote everything in the book – as it would take a while! -, there are selections that are well worth focusing on. I am going to look at the first fifty pages or so for this first outing.
The book is so gorgeous to hold. It is a coffee table book that has this tactility. The foreword is on page nine. It gives us an insight into John Carder Bush’s photographic relationship with his sister. “For twenty years, I was involved with my sister’s creative career as she rode the waves of the front line of fame. During the time, the way I experienced ordinary life shifted dramatically; it seemed that there was a heightening of a certain assort of awareness that came out of this intense and unique involvement in so many aspects of music and visuals arts. Everyday life took on a new significance that was accompanied by a sense of wonder at the natural phenomena occurring around me, and from the interactions I had with other people. Rainbow, clouds, thunderstorms, sunset, dawn, snow, clusters of coincidence, synchronicity, a deep conversation with a total stranger, acts of kindness, acts of love, acts of forgiveness, all became stunning and seemingly artistic manifestations of existence”. His relationship with his sister began before her career started. Snapping her at their East Wickham Farm from when she was a young child, he obviously sensed that his sister was hugely creative and a gifted artist. Capturing her as she was young and at school, he then continued to chart her life and career almost from the start. Shooting her albums covers from 1982, the years before that did see him collaborate. Though I think his most intense bond and best photos were taken for 1985’s Hounds of Love and 1989’s The Sensual World. How he must have remembered fondly the years and decades before when he was shooting this young girl who was exploring her surroundings and being exposed to music and culture around her. He continues: “Photographs are objects from the past; as soon as you have released the shutter the images goes to the top of a stack of recollections. And, of course, the past can be as intangible as a rainbow; ill will keep changing with each person’s individual perspective”. It is interesting how John Carder Bush mentions his involvement in martial arts and how that ties into his photography.
“As the author of this book, I know the way I see those years has been considerably affected by my experiences in the martial arts, both training in and teaching them”. Martial arts could be seen as a filter. Carder Bush saying “however hard we try, we cannot truly know another person’s inner story”. -Photographers can caption and essence of the artist and some of their personality. Even so, you cannot capture everything. The truth comes from their songs and interviews. John Carder Bush’s Cathy was published first in 1986, when Kate Bush was twenty-eight. It was reprinted in 2014, which prompted a number of media interviews. Reminiscing about their childhood and time together. How his sister was always creative “1973 and 1974 were very intense creative years, with often a couple of new songs a week”. John Carder Bush, Kate Bush and Paddy Bush siblings in an Anglo-Irish family. That Irish side pronounced and important. How they often took summer holidays in Ireland. Their Irish mother filled the house “with Celtic beauty and her singing”. This would have inspired a young Kate Bush (or Cathy, as she would have been known). The Irish side glamorous and enhancing, whereas their English side was “grey, sedate and boring”. The wild flowers and beautiful landscapes of Ireland paired to the smog and ice of England. Skipping to page thirteen, John Carder Bush remarks how the “Anglo-Irish mishmash of influence, religions, music and dance was the emotional nest Cathy dropped into in 1958”. I can only imagine what love there was for her. They enjoyed this “hard-earned, middle-class comfort” in an old and beautiful house that was surrounded by urban development. Living in Welling, it was formerly in Kent. Now, it is in South East London, as the Greater London area has expanded into other countries. I have stood outside of East Wickham Farm and looked into an area where a very young Cathy would have wandered and completely lost herself in. I have not seen the house, though looking at early photos of her there, it seemed like this peaceful paradise! John Carder Bush remembers how, when Catherine was trying meant to be practising violin, she was much more interested in the piano.
The piano had been given to their father by Professor Aesop. “She was writing songs about anything that moved her”. Writing a song a day, pets, friends, imaginary loves and elves were fodder. Nobody suspected that her early songs and curiosity for the piano would lead to a career. As the songs grew, the family were aware of something taking shape; “the flower left to grow in its own safe surroundings was blossoming in an exotic and unique way; like a rare daffodil among orchids”. They looked forward to being invited into the piano room to hear a new song. John Carder Bush writes how his sister’s generation was the first when many parents tried to direct them into what they wanted them to be. Rather than moulding them into an image of themselves, they were more open to the child’s own course. Because of that, even though there was reluctance, her parents had mixed reactions. Robert, her father, was a musician himself and could see she had talent. Her mother, Hannah, felt differently. A “haphazard, uncertain life of the ‘wandering musician’”. Strong and independent, when Cathy left school aged sixteen to study mime and dance and work on her own music, she moved into the same house as John (or ‘Jay’) in Brockley. It was there that her debut album, The Kick Inside, came together. Fascinating how John Carder Bush notes the confidence the Bush family had. All taken unconventional directions in the mid-1970s, his sister did “about two years of karate and took two examinations in the Shotokan style”. It must have been emotional for John Carder Bush to see his sister go from Cathy/Catherine to Kate Bush. How their relationship shifted when Wuthering Heights was played on the radio. He writes how, one frosty morning when he was shooting through the stations, Wuthering Heights was playing on three different stations at the same time!
I look at some of those early photos where his young sister was sat at the piano. Her skipping and dancing in the garden or photographed in trees, under the ivy or the surroundings of East Wickham Farm. I will comment on the next chapter about Kate Bush, chasing the shot. A different shade and type of red in this rainbow. The first edition of this run is about the childhood and young years. John Carder Bush fondly admiring his sister’s confidence and determination. Her belief in her own ability. She wanted to sail the ship alone. Not be dictated to. That courage. “These days, it might not seem so remarkable because my sister, and a few other people like her, have opened the way to music greater control by the artist, whether male or female. The dominant role of the record company has severely diminished since the 1970s, when the route was the only way you could get potential music out to an audience – there was no other choice”. A great memory he has is when she was eleven, Carder Bush sent some of her poems to a poetry magazine. The edited would print them if she changed a few lines. His sister felt, if they did not like them, then she didn’t want them in the magazine. You can feel that self-confidence and belief in the early photos. A steeliness and confidence that definitely shines through. A unique artist, “her songs go deep into the human psyche, and her music is as sophisticated as that of any classical composer; they are not mere decoration to enjoy for a week and then be discarded for something else”. Before ending the foreword, John Carder Bush says people might not realise there is a connection between kyudo and photography. Both “depend on precise timing to get results”. Like a photo, when the bow is “at full draw and you are totally focused on the target, the moment you releaser the arrow is dependant on all the physical and mental conditions being just right”.
He notes that, when you are looking through the viewfinder, the decision to release the shutter is dependant “on very similar conditions coming together”. The title of the book coming into focus: “During those years inside the rainbow, these two arts became inseparable for me, and each seemed to be a way of refining the other”. I feel this gives us a greater insight into his photography talent and how he captured his sister. He casts his mind back to 2014 and Kate Bush’s residency, Before the Dawn. How he regrets not being able to take photos during the show, traditionally done during dress rehearsal. He drove into the English countryside which was the production base for Before the Dawn. He was going to be filmed reciting the poem he wrote for Jog of Life from The Ninth Wave. In the back of his car, he had four kyudo longbows. After performing the poem, he crossed across the rehearsal hall and was there as a sensei of kyudo, to teach four of the cast how to use the bows in Before the Dawn. It returned to bookshops in November 2014. It must have been hugely emotional working on Before the Dawn and Cathy being available. Now in her fifties, that link between the extraordinary modern artist creating this incredible live experience, and those photos of his young sister. How far she had come and how she remained this enormously original and impressive artist. Before a brief section where we see John shot by Kate and the perspective being shifted, there are a series of photos from pages twenty-one to forty-three. I will start the next edition on page fifty. I have skipped a lot of his text, though I hope what I have included gives you an insight into the special relationship he has with his sister and why he continued to photograph her. The photos that end the foreword are extraordinary.
My personal favourites are pages twenty-six, thirty-one, thirty-six, forty, and forty-two. Page twenty-six is Bush, as a young teen perhaps or slightly younger, in a hat and looking off camera. This thoughtful or slightly enigmatic look. Thirty-one is her covering her face with her left arm. There is a ring on her littler finger and we can see her right eye. These photos are in black-and-white, though you can feel this magnetism and warmth. The playfulness and relaxed spirit. How comfortable Kate (Catherine) Bush was with her brother. Thirty-six is another great photo, where Bush is looking straight to camera. I think this one was shot in the 1970s and she has her right knee bent up. The expression and the beauty of her eyes. You get so much soul coming through in this image! Forty is a rare – not in a bad way – example of his young sister smiling. She is beaming as she is under a bush or part of the garden. Pulling together a tweed or wool blazer, she looks radiant and completely entranced in the photo. Page forty-two again shows her with a leg bent. Her left leg being bent to her chin as she sits in a beret I think, with her hands clasped together, as she rests her chin on her hands. Almost like a fashion model, John Carder Bush managed to captured this beautiful moment. Even that young, we get this variety of shots that show different sides to a prodigious and wonderful girl and young woman. A period where Cathy would become Kate. In the next edition, as I explore another shade of red – before moving to other colours -, we get to look at the earliest stages of her professional career. From the garden and familiarity of East Wickham Farm and her childhood, this was now a young woman. This chapter comes before the one about Never for Ever. A more general look at capturing the shots and some of John Carder Bush’s memories. The foreword and those early memories a really powerful opening to the book. A major reason why you should buy Kate: Inside the Rainbow and see these photos up close. Not only do we learn more about Kate Bush and how this talent and confidence was instilled at a young age, you get to see that early bond between brother and sister. One that would endure throughout her career. A fascinating glimpse…
INSIDE he rainbow.