15 Years Capturing Lightning in a Bottle
My relationship with David Bowie started at our very first shoot. I was to photograph his band Tin Machine for a cover of CREEM magazine. I would be the last shoot of a very long press day, and I knew that I needed to do something different than what they had done all day. So I decided to paint them with light using a flashlight. I presented the idea to David; he smiled and said, “Show me a Polaroid.” I turned the lights off and I started moving light over their faces. I pulled the Polaroid and handed it to David. He smiled and said that it was one of the most unusual ways he had ever been photographed. A few months later, I got a call from Rolling Stone. David had requested me to shoot him for an article they were doing. This started our 15 years of collaborations: I would get a phone call from David’s office, and they would ask if I was I available to talk to David. A few minutes later, the phone would ring, and David would tell me about the project. On the day, he would bring his clothes and some props. I would present ideas of how I would light or stage them, and we would just start to play. His openness to create in the moment and go in whatever direction it took us was one of the most amazing gifts I have ever been given as a photographer. He always wanted to go beyond our comfort zones, and he trusted me to push myself — to go out into the water until my feet could no longer touch the bottom.
—Frank Ockenfels 3, author and photographer of Collaboration: Frank Ockenfels 3 x David Bowie
Berlin Project: April 6, 1995
Earthling Publicity Shoot No. 2: September 9, 1996
New York Times Magazine, January 20, 2000
Heathen Publicity: March 26, 2002
Reality Publicity Shoot: May 5, 2003
New York Magazine: August 29, 2003
Art for Collaboration
COLLABORATION: FRANK OCKENFELS 3 X DAVID BOWIE
Excerpt from the new book Collaboration: Frank Ockenfels 3 X David Bowie (Abrams) by Frank Ockenfels 3, available wherever books are sold. © 2025 Frank Ockenfels 3