a photographer's take on minutiae

bruce

(update 10/28/2025 - if you are reading this from a link on Radio Nowhere, welcome! If you are interested in the small prints, link is at the end of this post)

A year ago or so, my photo agent at Getty was asking me to put together a collection of images by era specifically for film and television production wardrobe researchers. The devil is indeed in the details, and I am no fan of biopics, but I have been consistently impressed by the trailers and promos I have seen for the film, Deliver Me From Nowhere. The costumer has obtained and assembled for Jeremy White exactly what Bruce was wearing during the era. I cannot speak to the verisimilitude of the film, but Bruce seems to approve, so…

This resonates for me since I photographed Bruce during this period, and it was the last time I did so, and how he dressed left an impression on me - I needed to identify each roll of film with each of the separate nights I shot, and I took notes on what he wore when.

This is all even more sharp in my mind since I unpacked my new scanner and started making 4K scans and restoring images from decades-old negatives, and consulting with all my notes scrawled in the dark of a concert hall (or sports arena in this case).

When I was having that clothing (and scenery) conversation with my agent, he was telling me about how an Oscar-winning film production (including costume design) requested photographs of the subject ranging from the early 60s through the 90s. There were specific scenes in the film for which the production received photographs for historical research (recording sessions for instance, one particularly renown one). That film did not come close to reflecting the clothing, hair, and makeup depicted in the photos. One has to ask why the production even bothered to research those details in the first place.

As a stickler for accuracy and minutiae, I applaud DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE on that detail alone.

My view from the back of the stage

I am offering fine art and open edition prints in my shop.

Thanks!