Dean Chamberlain – video director 

Dean Chamberlain was the video director for Missing (Arcadia) and All She Wants Is. He was also a photographer for Arcadia. TDGD had an exclusive Q&A with Dean.

How did you become a photographer and how did you develop your very unique style of photography?
I began making photographs at 15 when a friend of mine named Sing Si Schwartz, also 15, was so enthusiastic about making photographs that I fell in love with it. Sing Si, until now, has been the unspoken hero of my life. Now I speak about him more often. I chose to go to college to study photography at 18 at Rochester Institute of Technology because Sing Si was going. I discovered Light painting at 21 because he unwittingly gave me the clue to the piece of the puzzle I was missing. I followed him to New York City at 23 because that’s where he was going to work as a photographer and I wanted to do the same to earn a living. He helped me with many of my early jobs that were over my head. His generosity was endless and without him the whole course of my life would, in all likelihood be completely different. His photography was completely different than mine but his spirit was the vital thread. I never realized how much he affected the life I’m living until he died by a freak fall on his head on July 3rd outside his home in NYC. I never really articulated this to myself and rarely to him before he died. Perhaps it’s selfish but now I’m creating a scholarship program in his honor. It’s never too late to give back to someone. It’s all I can do in hindsight. I have to broadcast my respect now.

Can you tell us a bit about how you actually create your photos (bearing in mind most of us don’t know an awful lot about camera techniques...)?
My light painting method is a way to expose photographs in complete darkness whereby I open the camera lens once I’ve prepared this environment of darkness and begin to paint light with a light source on and around the subject of my cameras observations. The exposures may take anywhere from a few seconds to many hours to expose a single frame of film. When I’ve painted all the light I want, I close the lenses, I develop the film and
print the picture normally. There is no manipulation of the image after the lens is closed. This is how I make a photograph. This is what I’ve been doing for 28 years.

How did you first come into contact with Duran Duran/Arcadia? Do you remember any details of how, when, where, why...?
Julie Anne Rhodes, to whom I will always be indebted, who now lives here in LA and with whom I’m still friends, was not yet married with Nick, came to my loft in NYC to buy a print for Nick in 1981. I guess that he liked the photograph because he and a couple of band members, none of whom I knew at the time, came to an exhibit where I had a couple of prints in ‘82 or ‘83. Everyone at the show was blown away that Duran Duran was there. I didn’t really know how popular they were until later. Search me, I was into Talking Heads, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, and Bowie and the psychedelic 60’s music I grew up on.

It’s 20 years since the Arcadia project, with a remastered release of the album and videos scheduled for release soon. The ‘making of’ shows the painstaking process of filming the Missing video. We’d love to hear more about how that video came about - the idea/storyline, the visuals etc.
I moved to Paris in ‘83, then looked up Nick in ‘85ish, who was, with Simon, and Roger, working there on Arcadia. I went to the studio and my mind was uncorked because I’d never been to a recording studio before and these guys had taken over the place and they were having lots of fun there. I showed my photographs to Nick, Simon, and Roger. They invited me to make a few light paintings at the studio. Suddenly my life was changing from being somewhat ordinary to quite extraordinary. It was like taking off on a Concorde.  One thing led to another and I was doing the Arcadia album portrait which was an extravagant session, the likes of which I’d never dreamed of. Fire breathers, horses, scimitars, hundreds of candles all about the space. It was an amazing session. It was an incredible time for all of us in Paris. I was invited to travel with them to various cities to make light paintings for a book we hoped to publish. Hundreds of light paintings and a year later we realized that the book was not in the cards. But meanwhile we had an amazing collection of images which we will hopefully soon publish.

Nick and Simon felt we needed to do something else and so they asked if I wanted to make a video. I’d made only one short film piece before and it took 4 hours to shoot and was all of 4 seconds long and they hadn’t even seen it. The ideas for Missing were principally inspired by conversations with Nick and Simon, and by Nick's love for all things Jean Cocteau, the great French painter, poet, and filmmaker. At his suggestion I went to see his film, Beauty And The Beast, and it blew my mind. It was the most beautiful film I’d ever seen and I think I cried several times watching it. I knew at that point that I’d make a great Light painting animation film.

The visions started forming up and I felt like I was being guided by spirits. Nick’s seductive imagination and basic fun loving adventurous creative nature were the flame. The writing of Missing took weeks. Light painting is so time absorbing that I had to plan every frame of film. The preparations in London was almost 2 weeks. The shooting was 10 days. I worked with a photo school friend Kevin O’Brien, who was now a film maker and was familiar with my method of light painting. Together we translated my visions of light into motion film. I hired my NYC friend Mary Lemley who was living in London to make the dress for it. She made the most beautiful dress I’d ever seen. It seemed to float. The whole project was blessed. If not for Elizabeth Flowers, the producer, it would have been far less blessed. Being a subject of a light painting is not like posing for a photograph or being filmed. It requires stamina more like a still life drawing model. It’s not easy and our model, whose name I apologize for forgetting, was there 10 hours a day for 10 days and kept everyone smiling. Does somebody know her name? It’s missing for the time being. Nobody on the set had ever seen anything like this happen with motion film. I’d been making light paintings for 8 years so I had some idea of what might happen
in motion film and I was gleeful at the possibilities shaping up before our eyes.

The Missing video doesn’t actually feature any of the members of Arcadia. Can you tell us to what extent Simon and Nick influenced the video? Were you first asked to photograph the band and then ended up doing the video, or was it the other way around?
We did light painting photographs for a year or more before the video began. They couldn’t be in Missing. They were missing from Missing and that was part of the magic of the project. Nick and I were talking almost every day.  I had to edit a lot of ideas. Simon’s presence was there in the song, and his voice was from a dream, a sad and exquisite dream which is the real spirit of the images.

A few years later, you made the video for All She Wants Is. If we are to believe especially Simon and John, this counts as the most gruelling video shoot the band has ever done. Can you share some of your recollections?
Nick asked me to make All She Wants Is because we were sad that the Missing video was so beautiful and wasn’t going to see the light of mass TV because of certain prevailing factors. He looked at me one day with that smiling childlike diabolical look and said, ‘let’s make a video that will win a MTV video award.....’

I’m surprised they said it was gruelling. I thought they were digging it. Just look at their faces in it. They couldn’t be happier. They loved every minute of it! And so did I even though it was gruelling for me.
Recollections: Nick, Simon, and John getting their face masks made. Oh, now that I mention it, maybe that was what Simon and John are referring to about the gruelling part. They had straws in their noses to breathe whilst the plaster was drying. That was rather bizarre to be sure...... Posing the mannequins of them was fun. It improved morale when things were getting tense.  And when the real ones came to be filmed it was strange. It was almost as if the real ones were fake and the fake ones real. All She Wants Is was a lighting marathon for me. I light painted almost every frame of film. I must have lit more than 1000 individual frames of film with a flashlight.

Whose idea was it to have masks/dummies made of the band’s faces?
The replicas was Nicks idea I think because the video took 14 days to make and they had only one day to participate in their real forms.

Something we’ve ‘always’ wanted to know (and Nick won’t tell us...) do the crucifixes in the video stand for anything?
Levity.

Again, the concept behind the video - do you recollect how that came about, who brought in which ideas, etc.?
That was Nick on a roll. I just hopped on board for the ride. I did a lot of work inventing light possibilities together with him. We were into making luminous magic. Kevin and I were also inventing ways to explore unique light magicalities.

Of the 2 videos, of which do you have the fondest memories and why?
Missing is the most beautiful film images I think I will ever make. Let’s see what the future has in store.

What, for you, were the biggest differences in creating the 2 videos?
Missing was an extraordinary dreamlike experience. All She Wants Is was fun but very different. Less sensitive.

And is it a coincidence that both videos feature roses (or are we reading too much into this?)
Strange that in Missing a rose shatters and in All She Wants Is, it explodes. In Missing it was a sad thing and in All She Wants Is it was kind of a mad thing. I’d never blow up a flower again.

Have you done any other work with Duran? Do you still stay in touch with (any of) them?
I made a light painting with Nick, Simon, and Warren in LA in ‘95ish.  I made a portrait of Nick and Maddy at David Hockney’s beach house in Malibu in ‘98ish.

You’ve worked with an enormous range of people - which portrait or photo series stands out as one of your favourites? (And why...)
Every person I’ve portrayed has been my favorite. My sessions with Nick and Simon are amongst my most exquisite memories. It seems like it was all a beautiful dream. Another portrait that changed the course of my life was Tim Leary, which I made in ‘96. I met some of the most incredible people I will ever know at Tim’s home in LA. In fact, the first time I met him face to face was with Nick and Simon at David Bowie’s hillside home in LA in ‘87ish.

Here’s my Tim Leary tribute. He was the laughing avatar and was disenfranchised by the government and media because he was too far ahead of the curve. They crucified him for having too much fun. Power does that to people who really love life and people enough to tell the truth and do so smiling in the face of all odds against surviving the onslaught. He was a real American hero but you’ll never hear that from most people. Like William Burroughs said, ‘in 100 years, Tim Leary won’t have any more detractors.’ If you haven’t already, try reading ‘High Priest’, ‘Flashbacks’, ‘Jail Notes’ or ‘Psychedelic Prayers’. You’re in for a great surprise...
Every portrait I’ve made has been a rich experience. I love people and life and try to show my reverence for people when I portray them.

For those of us who’ve lost touch with your career after the Duran video, can you tell us about your current projects?
I’m publishing a book of my light paintings. It’s a retrospective of my photographs since 1977 and you can get a decent representative view of some of the book on my web site. We’re in the process of re-doing it with my wife, Stacy’s, favorite 10 seconds of images in Missing on the front page in QuickTime. It’s the first thing you’ll see. That’s how much I love it.  And my website will list the release date... Otherwise I continue to explore and experiment the infinitely rich world of light as it can be recorded by a camera...

Has digital photography changed the way you work? (Do you use digital cameras?)
I am a photographic purist. I work with 50 year old 4 by 5 inch view cameras. I know nothing about digital cameras. They have no soul......They frighten me......... With digital, it’s as William Burroughs said, ‘dead empty masks operated by remote control.’ I’m a painter of light. And pixels don’t really feel like light to me. Perhaps I’ve got a thing or two to learn about that.

Which artists/people have inspired you either as a photographer or a person?
One thing that inspires me a bit more is the souls who value the precious life we have. You can tell the ones who love life by the look in their eyes. They shine light out of their souls and you see it in the eyes.

Would you consider yourself a fan of Duran’s music (or Arcadia)? Are there any tracks you especially like?
I talk to Nick from time to time. He’s like a brother to me. Simon and I have these big hugging joy moments when we see each other. He loves life. I know Roger, John, and Andy rather less well.  I saw Duran Duran play in LA some months ago and I cried when they played Ordinary World. Who hasn’t? Come Undone has got to be one of the coolest songs and amazing guitar playings ever. Warren was hearing the angels when he played that one I guess. Warren lives two doors away from me here in Venice Beach, California. We see each other in the neighborhood all the time. He has two giant framed prints of my Saint Peter’s photographs, also on my website, on the walls of his restaurant.

If you’re ever in Venice, CA., my wife, Stacy, and I have an art gallery, Light Space Gallery. We have a great show coming up. The show’s called MINDS WIDE OPEN...

Missing will always be the song that touches my heart most of all because I lived it with them and it’s beautiful.

o0o

We contacted Katy Krassner to ask if she knew the name of the model in the Missing video, but it seems that’s to remain a mystery: ‘Nick said he wasn’t there when Dean was putting the video together so if Dean doesn’t know, no one would.’

And Nick generously shared some of his memories of working with Dean:
I think Missing is one of the most beautiful videos and it really suits the song perfectly. Dean is a true artist through and through - he is completely unique and has an extraordinary vision.

We have worked with him many times, he has photographed us and made the Missing and All She Wants Is videos and also contributed to the Ordinary World video (film footage of his included in video). As a matter of fact, a photograph of his is the front cover of Ordinary World and is included in the Wedding Album packaging. He has told me he has a book coming out soon and I am very excited to see it. Nick’

Many, many thanks to Dean for all the time and energy he gave us (and for making Manon’s all time favourite video!). Be sure to check out www.deanchamberlain.com, one of the visually most pleasing sites on the web!