Dave ‘Hogie’ Hogan reflects on a career photographing the icons of music, with AP’s Nigel Atherton
Think of a rock or pop star from the past 40 years and there is a strong possibility that Dave Hogan has photographed them. Probably many times. Since the early 1980s ‘Hogie’, as he likes to be known, has been rubbing shoulders with music’s biggest legends on stage, backstage, in limousines, private jets, swimming pools, exclusive clubs and hotels all over the world. And now he is officially a legend himself, being named ‘Legend of the Year’ at the inaugural So.Co Music Photographer of the Year awards in March.
Hogie appreciates that being there is half of the battle – ‘99% of my job is access,’ he admits. ‘You can be the world’s greatest photographer, but if you’re not in the room it doesn’t matter. And trust me, there are a lot of much better photographers than me who are not in the room. I’ve just been doing it a long time. And there are a lot of people who just never trust anybody else to go and photograph their artists.
’ It’s well known that at most gigs the ‘three songs no flash’ rule applies, where photographers only get to shoot the first three songs, but if it’s an act that Hogie has a good relationship with, like The Rolling Stones, he is allowed to shoot the whole show. ‘The deal is that the first three numbers I can do what I want with, and then everything after that is by approval. But often the best pictures happen in the first three numbers anyway, because they’re not sweaty.
‘I look at gigs in a purely visual way. People will ask, “How was the gig?” and I’ll say, “It was brilliant.” Then they’ll ask me what numbers they played, and I’m like, “I’ve no idea, mate.” I’m just viewing it through the camera, thinking about light and shapes and compositions. That’s how my brain works.
‘There’s nothing worse than going along to a gig and there’s no light. But the great thing about modern digital cameras is that you can take pictures in almost total darkness, which has changed from a lot of the early days where you’d be pushing black & white film two stops and hoping you’ve got it. A classic example is the Brit Awards. It’s very low light and with someone like Harry Styles, he doesn’t stand still. So you’ve got to be on at least 1/500sec or faster to get him sharp. So I’ll shoot at ISO 5000.
‘I got a picture of Harry at the Brits that got used really well. I checked on the back to be sure I’d got it then I told my assistant: “That’s the picture, go and move that now.
