SIf you are someone in London, you know who Dave Benett is. Because if you were famous or aspired to be in the 90s and the first decade of this century, Benett has photographed you. Actors, supermodels, singers, the royal family… anyone who went out partying passed through his camera, while he cultivated an unusual discretion in celebrity photographers. He himself admits that many of his photos are ‘familiar’ to people, but few know who took them. Now, a major exhibition at London’s JD Malat Gallery aims to address that. Here is a sample of the more than a million photos that he keeps in his amazing archive.
–
–
Kylie gives it her all
what has been lost
–
–
“I just had to yell: ‘Kate! Naomi! Kylie!’… And Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell or Kylie Minogue [en la imagen] They gave me an accomplice gesture for a second –says Benett–. I had time to press the shutter a couple of times », he recalls. He had access to the dressing rooms, to the VIP area… «Today, they tell you when and where you can take the photo. It doesn’t matter because before an image of celebrity it was worth thousands of pounds; nowadays, they don’t even give you five.’
–
–
–
–
Weinstein y Zeta…
on the hunt and capture
–
–
“In those years – remembers Benett – the pressure towards young girls was palpable. A culture of stalking. Here, a very young Catherine Zeta-Jones, in 1991, with producer Harvey Weinstein, today sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual abuse and accused by more than 80 women.
–
–
–
–
Cameron, Gwyneth and the Duke
The favor of the ‘royals’
–
–
Benett always enjoyed the appreciation of the British royal family. “Queen Elizabeth – remembers the photographer – once covered the angle of a shot on the queen mother’s birthday. ‘Your majesty of her!’ I shouted, ‘do you mind?’ She looked at me, smiled and turned away ». In the image, Cameron Diaz and Gwyneth Paltrow with the Duke of Edinburgh.
–
–
–
–
At the Rolling Stones’ house
The party had an end
–
–
The Rolling Stones invited Benett to their private parties, like this one where he photographed Elton John with Gianni Versace in 1992. The designer died five years later. The last few years have also been tough for the photographer himself. His teenage son died after inhaling a toxic substance thinking it was nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’). And Bennett almost didn’t survive Covid.
–
–
–
–
“My best photo”
The complicity
–
–
Here, Princess Diana and Liza Minnelli at a benefit dinner in 1991. “Lady Di gave me eight seconds to take this photo,” recalls Benett. I didn’t have to steal it from her because she trusted me. She appears relaxed, off guard, a young woman gossiping with her friend. It is my best photo. I witnessed her whirlwind and growing madness around her. How she was harassed by paparazzi agencies… her death changed the rules of the game. Her funeral was the worst moment of my career ».
–
–
–
–
Nicholson and DeVito
The kings of the night.
–
–
They were known as the kings of revelry. Actors Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito arrived in London and let their hair down. And as in the image above, they did not cut a hair in letting themselves be seen and photographed orn fireeven drinking, smoking… “Now, instead -explains Benett-, public relations exert total control over the image projected by the celebrities».
–
–
–
–
The golden boy and the spice girl
The Secret in Their Eyes
–
–
In this shot, Benett says, David Beckham looks sheepishly at his wife, Victoria. “They are a very polite couple,” he says. With another footballer, Paul Gascoigne, the photographers got involved in slaps. But the worst fight I had was with Ernesto de Hannover, the husband of Carolina de Monaco. He broke my camera and I punched him. I’ve photographed everyone from Nelson Mandela to Michael Jackson (only Elvis and Lennon escaped me). And I hardly ever had any problems.
–
–
–
–
–
–
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elfinanciero/A5RQMZS6CZGEVBYSDPKWQU7XAE.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
