Click on Any Image for Full-Size
______________________________
Clive Davis. Music industry icon, record company head, legendary producer, prototypical A&R guy, Grammy Award winner, member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame…and the man who had his hands on the careers of Janis Joplin, TLC, Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, Christina Aguilera, Carlos Santana, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Laura Nyro, Santana, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Billy Joel, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Loggins & Messina, Usher, Outkast, P!nk, the Notorious B.I.G., Sean Combs, Toni Braxton, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd and Whitney Houston…should I stop with the list now?!!
Adrian DeLucca sent me down to Sony Music Entertainment…where even at 85 he is still the Chief Creative Officer…so I could get a few portraits for PENTA. Here’s what we came home with…
Knowing that we were probably gonna have no more than 5 minutes with Clive, Robert and I set up a couple of identical sets with different backdrops…
The 5 minutes was about right, but we got what we came for…
…and Adrian liked my pulled-back set portrait so much, they used it for the opener…
Thanks, Clive…
Damn Ugly Photography 
I think the “pulled back” portrait is increasing in popularity. I always try to shoot those now, and when I’m art directing other photographers, I snap the BTS ones all the time.
(He doesn’t look 85, either)
loving the BT Blue… did he wear that tie knowing it would work with your backdrop? and… could you possibly reveal… what backdrop that is, is it commercially available or custom? thanks, happy 2018
I met Clive when he walked through the door…which is typically the case for shoots like this…so no, I had no idea what he would be wearing. As for the drop, Mimi Stojanovic at http://www.gravitybackdrops.com has been painting custom drops for me. They are amazing, made to order, well-priced and about a third the price of what that ‘famous’ backdrop painter from Bushwick charges!
Thank you so much, Brad!