Legendary music ’tog Denis O’Regan has shot some of rock’s biggest stars but regrets binning thousands of Bowie, Stones and Queen images…
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Access to artists was a challenge because I had no business contacts or friends in the music business when I started. The only access I had was to live shows until I had earned enough byline credits to secure vital photo passes. Working with the music newspaper the NME, especially during 1978, gave me excellent access, both onstage and off.
I didn’t go to college, working instead in the City of London for a couple of years before punk came along. The main lesson I learned was to know your goal so you can take advantage of opportunities. I loved to travel, take photos and rock music, so naturally I wanted to tour with rock bands. My ultimate goals were David Bowie, Queen, The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.
The first instance of the ‘first three songs’ rule for me was Abba at Wembley Arena in 1977. The pit was huge and the stage was low. The band only could see the ranks of photographers, so they imposed a shooting restriction. Other bands thought that would be a cool thing to do and enforced the rule.
It also restricted the number of images in circulation, most of which would show the artists at their best at the opening of a show, not sweat-soaked performers who were heading towards the encore.
The imposition of the rule opened up the idea of working with bands for total access, better angles and exclusive images, and I secured an extensive archive of exclusive content. Before that, I travelled abroad to shoot shows so my pictures could be differentiated, possibly with more access to the show. That worked well and was a direct stepping stone to touring.
On the road
My first big tour lasted eight weeks in Europe with The Stones, then eight months with David Bowie, who was wonderful. I was in my 20s and expected ‘an enigma’, but he was engaging and enthusiastic. He liked the idea of a book and invited me to outings and dinners to vary usual images.
Photography for me changed in 1989 when Photoshop came out. Had I seen it coming, I wouldn’t have ditched thousands of shots – including Bowie, Stones and Queen tours – that were badly exposed or out of focus, as I was already using Apple Macs, for which Photoshop was created.
My first digital mission with Nikon was Paul McCartney’s 1999 show at The Cavern, Liverpool. I was commissioned by Paul and had exclusive access. I uploaded colour images at night after the show, and made every UK front page as I’d created a minis
