About David LaChapelle: David LaChapelle is an American commercial photographer, fine-art photographer, music video director, film director, and artist.
I believe in a visual language that should be as strong as the written word.
I have this idea that you can use glamour and still have it represent something that matters.
Just as Renaissance artists provided narratives for the era they lived in, so do I. I'm always looking beyond the surface. I've done that ever since I first picked up a camera.
I've never wanted to be part of an inner circle of any scene. I've always been an outsider looking to question and subvert.
My mother taught me a lot about respect for all living things - for plants and animals. I am a vegetarian. I was brought up that way.
You work with people who are obsessive about shopping, obsessive about owning things and buying things, like this purchase is going to make them happy. And you want to say to them, 'You know, no amount of real estate is gonna fill that void.'
I was always painting when I was a kid. But then when I handled a camera when I was 17, that was it for me. I loved photography. I would work 4 or 5 hours a day. It was like a calling.
My mum was one of those people who really wasn't allowed to be an artist, because she worked in a factory and she came from the war and all that stuff. She really has an artist's soul.
