Merri Cyr è stata la fotografa ufficiale di Jeff Buckley e una sua grande amica.
Nel 2002 la Cyr ha pubblicato il libro A wished-for song: a portrait of Jeff Buckley,245
contenente varie immagini aventi il cantante come soggetto.
Ho contattato la signora Cyr via e-mail ponendole alcune domande riguardanti la personalità di Buckley. Merri Cyr ha gentilmente risposto ad alcuni dei miei quesiti. Riporto in seguito le domande inviate e le relative risposte, corredando l’intervista con fotografie scattate dalla Cyr a Buckley.
Can you write me something that impressed you about Jeff’s personality?
Jeff had a great sense of the comic both on stage and off. His humour was subtle and often mixed with irony and a sense of sadness.
How could you define his character?
I guess I would say that he was initially a bit suspicious, but ultimately extremely generous once he felt he had ascertained someone’s intentions.
Jeff was a big Scorpio. Very seductive. I think he seduced everyone he came into contact with, everyone wanted to know him, he was so talented and beautiful. Although he was a water sign, I think of him as fire, very warming if you kept a certain distance from the flame, but you might get scorched if you got too close. He despised the idea of being a tortured artist in a way, but I suppose he was one. He was a very complex person. His moods were pretty mercurial. As we became friends, his moodiness could be somewhat challenging, but as a photographic muse it was fantastic.
How did you come to be Jeff’s personal photographer?
I had talked with Jeff a few times after our initial shoot, but it wasn’t until about 7 or 8 months later that I came home to find a large amount of messages filling the tape on my answering machine. It was Jeff frantically insisting I photograph his first
Columbia album package, the “Live at Sin-é” EP. He called me on a Friday morning and by the afternoon we were up having a meeting with the art director on the same day. The live shoot was the following Monday. Jeff was a tornado that swept me up into his world. Although he initially hired me to do his album packaging for the EP and “Grace”, we did quite a number of shoots on our own. Eventually I went out on tour with him and his band for a while. The band, Mickey, Matt and Michael, were amazing. I was the only girl so it was like having a band of brothers. They were very welcoming and nice to me.
Did you tell Jeff something to make him feel well when you took pictures of him? What was shooting him like?
Most people I photograph are initially uncomfortable in front of the camera. It is part of my job to turn the experience of being photographed from one of work to one of play. You can’t really get a good photo of someone if they are unhappy or
uncomfortable. With Jeff I think the key was that he decided to trust me. If someone believes in you and what you are doing, it gives you an incredible amount of strength as an artist. He was very generous with his creativity and supported good work in other musicians and artists. He let me do whatever I wanted to, was open to different ideas. He volunteered to be my muse and I took him up on it. Since Jeff didn’t censor me I shot him when he was in every sort of mood, which I think is unusual. People usually only want you to see their “presentable” side, but I think Jeff trusted me and allowed me to photograph him with the view toward authenticity. I loved him and I think he knew that. Jeff and I became friends through doing the work together. Ultimately this served him as well as I was able to make better work for him to promote his music. For Jeff, music was his total focus.
What can you tell about Grace cover picture?
This photo was taken during the “Grace” album cover shoot. It was taken at Arcadia Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in December 1993. The styling for the album cover was pretty much all Jeff. For his clothing he brought an army duffle bag full of his vintage clothes. In the mix was the gold sparkle jacket that you see in the cover shot. Of course I couldn’t help being somewhat attracted to it as it looked like something he pulled out of Judy Garland’s closet. I thought it was sort of funny. I learned much later that this image stirred up a lot of controversy. It wasn’t an image that I ever printed a proof print of, but when Jeff saw it on the contact sheet, he fell in love with it. The reason he said that he loved the shot was that he said he could tell that he was listening to the music by the expression on his face. He could see that he was listening to music. As far as I was concerned, I thought there were a lot more interesting shots that we did that day, but it was his album cover and I thought is should be how he wanted it. Executives at Sony were put off by the sparkle jacket and thought it made him look too gay. Others at the company thought that the image was too much of a pretty boy shot. They wanted to publicize him not as a pretty boy, but more in line with the “Live at Sin-é” album cover with a more gritty or documentary style look. All I know is that Jeff fought very hard and insisted that this image be on his album cover. He ultimately pulled rank and wouldn’t back down about it with the Sony executives. Some people think that it was his ego that drove him to insist, but I think that to him the music was the most important thing and that this image
somehow reflected that back to him. Ultimately it is hard for me to now imagine a different shot being on the cover. It is the iconic image that he chose to visually define himself with and it now seems impossible to me that it could be any other photograph.
Where did you see your first Jeff’s live performance and what did you think about it?
A few days after our first shoot, I stopped by Sin-é to see him play and drop off a couple of prints to him. Needless to say, his performance blew me away. When he played the song “Hallelujah” I had to hold myself back from sobbing, his rendition was so beautiful. I don’t kow that I was thinking so much as just feeling. I had never been affected that way watching a live performance. As a performer Jeff was able to channel some kind of divine energy so that we could benefit. He had an amazing gift that touched people in a very personal way.
What did Jeff like talking about?
What do you think about the influence of Jeff’s music on the current music scene?
It seems Jeff has influenced innumerable musicians. Often when I am listening to the radio I hear songs where I know that musicians had been listening to him. The way they sing a phrase…Muse, Radiohead, U2. I’m sure Jeff would love that so many great musicians honor him in this way.
How did his death impact you, personally and professionally?
Jeff changed my life. He fought for me to do the photography on his first EP, “Live at Sin-é”, even though the art director had already hired a different photographer. It was the first album cover I did. After that Columbia records and other record companies started hiring me to do album photography. Basically Jeff started my career as a music photographer. He was one of the most amazing artist I have ever met, and I feel happy and privileged to have been able to collaborate with him and seen him perform and do his work. When an artist of his caliber extends himself to you, you want to meet the challenge and be the best at what you are doing.
Sadly, his drowning seemed a tragic result of a complex myth he seemed entwined in. In my opinion, it must have been extremely difficult for Jeff to individuate himself from the legacy of his parents. What seems uncanny to me is that he has become so much more wildly popular since his death than he was alive.