Las Vegas Weekly

June 10, 2010 · 4:20 PM

Photos: Paparazzi, publicists are not two of Neal Preston’s favorite things

By Robin Leach

Michael Jackson.

Photo: Neal Preston

Legendary rock music photographer Neal Preston is presenting an exhibit of his work that includes a never-before-seen oversized proof sheet of Led Zeppelin. The Hard Rock Hotel unveiling features some 40 prints from his extensive collection, and the Led Zeppelin is being releasing as a limited edition to be sold exclusively one week from today when the exhibit opens at Skybar. The photos will be displayed throughout the hotel and available for purchase in the Hard Rock Retail Store.

With a staggering 40-plus-year career in photography that started while still in high school, Neal has made significant contributions to pop culture history. His photos have appeared in every conceivable media outlet literally everywhere, and his client list is a who’s who of rock royalty. His body of work is regarded as one of music’s most extensive and significant photo collections, and it was the key source of photographs for VH1’s acclaimed documentary series Behind the Music, providing more than 1,000 images for 50 episodes.

Rock fans know Neal best as the photographer who has toured with Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen and countless others, and his travels have included touring Europe (Bruce, Queen), Canada (Heart), Russia (Billy Joel), Japan (Bruce, Duran Duran), China (Wham!), South Africa (Whitney Houston) and South America (Queen).

In 1979, he began a long relationship with People and is the most-assigned photojournalist in the history of the magazine, with nearly 700 shoot days. In addition to dozens of People covers, Neal has shot covers of Newsweek, Time and Rolling Stone, with subjects as diverse as Nancy Kerrigan, Richard Nixon, Pearl Jam and Marvin Gaye, and has partnered with longtime friend director Cameron Crowe on film work.

Neal and I sat down this week to talk about the exhibit and his extraordinary career.

Robin Leach: When is the moment that you know you’ve captured a moment in time that could never be captured any other way with a photo?

Neal Preston: The times where I say “got it” to myself are usually after an entire shoot. In other words, “OK, that shoot is over, we’ve got what we came for.” In terms of specifics, it’s a little more of a gray area. You might have a feeling that you have something really special and iconic. I’m a film guy, not digital, I’m old school, so it’s not until you really look at the film, and I truly believe that. A lot of it is in the editing; you really have to see it on film.

RL: When did you first pick up a camera and say to yourself, “I want to record history?”

NP: I first picked up a camera when it was given to me by the first of three brothers-in-law. I was about 13 or 14, and I used to take my camera to rock and roll shows when I was growing up in New York City. At that time, you could do that; nobody thought twice about it. I also became a huge music fan the night The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. … My love of music and my love of photography morphed in a strange way. It just happened.

RL: How has the business of photography changed over 40 years, and how has the business of access for photography changed over 40 years?

NP: Well, both have changed. The business has changed so far as the money is both greater and not as great, if that makes any sense. … A lot of it now, as far as magazine photography, editorial photography, is celebrity-driven. What really changed is the Internet. It changed the amount of outlets the photographers have for their work, and it changed the way material is delivered. Before we ever worried about shooting digitally, we had the option to deliver digitally, so it is really the Internet that was the great change.

As far as access is concerned, I’ll give you one of my standard things that I’ve felt for a long time. If I ever wrote a tell-all book for this business, more so than my career, it would be called The Publicist Finally Won. And there is the way everything changed access wise. I had a People magazine contract for years and years; in fact, I’m the most assigned photographer in the history of People. We used to be able to, in the old days, for a magazine story, certainly a cover story, whether it was for People, Time, Life, we could spend two or three days as we needed to get the goods for a cover story. You’ll be lucky if you get four hours now. Everything is done with three publicists hanging over your head. … The problem is you never get to develop any type of rapport or chemistry with the person you’re shooting.

The other thing about photography in terms of the technology, digital photography empowered a couple generations of photographers who have no training, no talent, no business really being in photography, because all they really have to do is push the button, and it’s about getting something in front of the editor quicker than the next guy. They click rather than think. They’re all disposable; they’re not photographers. I have a big thing about paparazzi; I think it’s very bad. I lived next door to someone who, may she rest in peace, when she was alive, she was a big target of the paparazzi, and that was Anna Nicole (Smith). I live on a winding road. when news broke on her death and on her son’s death, they would come up here and sit around in beach chairs … waiting for stuff to happen. There were a couple days that I drove down the hill with some eggs in a little bag … just in case.

RL: Neal, color versus black and white? What do you capture in black and white that you could never get in color?

NP: People tend to love black and white photography, especially when it’s of a historical or archival nature. Black and white has a romance to it and a drama to it that color doesn’t have. Color has a certain type of drama that black and white doesn’t have. I like to call it more drama. But obviously black and white isn’t reality-based, so to speak, but it depends on the photographer, it depends on the way you shoot and the style the photographer has. I have no preference; a good photograph can withstand the test of color or black and white.

RL: Did you pick all the photos for the new exhibit at the Hard Rock? Was it tough to choose? You can’t have one favorite kid, so to speak.

NP: It’s beyond tough. In fact, it’s the most stressful part of my day every day. I’m very fortunate I have a fairly deep catalog, and I have a lot of kids to choose from. When you do a gallery show or an exhibition, you try to gear yourself to the people you know who will be looking at the photography. … But like any other photographer, you get a certain amount of your “greatest hits.” The final count is about 40 -- black and white and color. There will be some of the obvious things I’m known for shooting, like Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Queen. I try to put in a couple oddball things that people might not expect.

RL: If you were to take your five favorite photos from your collection to a desert island, is it too impossible? Could you name one of them?

NP: Probably two or three of them would be of The Who. Pete Townsend is my favorite subject over the years. The other two or three, I’m not sure. There’s one or two Jimmy Page I’m partial to … that’s a tough question.

RL: What’s left for you to capture on camera? What would be a dream shot for you these days?

NP: There are two people who I’ve always wanted to photograph in the record business who have not yet crossed in front of my camera, and they are Christina Aguilera and Courtney Love. Courtney because she, as far as I’m concerned, personifies everything that rock and roll is all about, the good and the bad. As far as Christina, she’s got such an amazing look, and her pipes are beyond compare. I think she’s one of the most talented people to come in the business in the last 20 years.

RL: Lady Gaga?

NP: Not interested -- been there with Madonna.

RL: If you were telling somebody who had never heard of Neal Preston, who never knew about rock photography, and you were recommending him to go to the Hard Rock exhibit, what would you say? Go see it because …

NP: Because his photos don’t look like anybody else’s.

In conjunction with the exhibit opening to the public June 17, HRH magazine hosts its summer issue release party. It’s a collector’s edition with a 12-page spread of Neal’s photography, including a first-account story by him introduced by Oscar-winning director Cameron Crowe. The cover features Them Crooked Vultures, which is John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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