Don't Stand So Close To Me (The Police-part 2)

People are always asking me why I stopped shooting rock and roll. I had a lot of fun doing it, and I couldn't give you any one reason why I stopped. But there were a lot of little reasons, and one of them was connected to The Police.

Stewart Copeland on drums, Andy Summers in mid-air

As I said last time, I shot The Police at the Hotel Diplomat in New York with very few people in the audience. What I couldn't know at the time was that in just a couple of years they would become one of the biggest bands in the world. So imagine my surprise when I heard their demands just a few years later. Before they would let anyone shoot the show, they had to agree to let the band approve all the photos that would be printed. I usually worked freelance– I'd shoot whatever interested me, and then when the magazines needed a photo, I'd decide what work to submit. Had a lot of photos published that way. So the thought of showing the work to the band (more likely their management) and letting them choose what photos they would ALLOW me to submit... well that seemed just wrong. And it felt like the beginning of big changes. Which indeed it was. Now, of course, along with the 3 songs rule, and giving up your copyright to Lady Gaga, it's not unusual at all. Glad I was shooting then, and not now.