t took Christie Goodwin until she was
in her 40s to find her true vocation:
photographing musicians. Although she
had already been a photographer for over
20 years, a chance commission from the
manager of the rock band Status Quo
took her career in a whole new path.
Since then, Christie’s growing reputation in the
field of music photography has led to her shooting
major stars from both sides of the Atlantic. She has
been photographing Ed Sheeran since he was an
unknown 17-year-old playing in pubs, and regularly
shoots the tours of legendary musicians.How did you get into photography?
I’ve always been fascinated by pictures. When I was
little, to keep me quiet, my parents would put me on
the settee with a big photo book, and I would be ‘gone’for hours. I just loved pictures. I would look at
a picture and have this whole story in my head
about that picture... What happened before that
picture, and what happened after. I’ve always
been fascinated with that.
My dad had a camera, which I wasn’t allowed to
touch. I knew that there was a connection, that the
camera made pictures, so I was obsessed with this
camera. I ran off with it a couple of times and got
told off. In the end he gave up, and bought me my
first analogue camera for my 14th birthday. From
then on, it was just me and my camera.Did any photographers inspire you?
To me, it was the pictures. I wasn’t interested in
the photographers. That only came when I studied
photography, because then you have to study
various photographers and their styles.
I had a keen interest in Linda McCartney when
she was still Linda Eastman. She was an excellent
photographer, and I loved the way she always brought
a sense of humour to her pictures. She did a lot of
work for Rolling Stone, and that whole period before
she was with Paul McCartney, she had this funny
side to her pictures and I thought that was very good.
I liked Baron Wolman, who was the first Rolling
Stone chief photographer. For him it was how he had
this connection that peeked behind the scenes, and
this connection with his subjects, that I really admired.Didn’t you study the fine art side of photography?
Yeah. I went totally wrong there. You’re 18 and
you’re foolish, and I knew that I always wanted
to do something with photography. Back then
it was very much either you become aI
Left: Ed Sheeran playing the Teenage Cancer
Trust 2014 concert at the Royal Albert Hall.Below: Ed Sheeran and Elton John,
Wembley Stadium, London, 2015.http://www.digitalcameraworld.com DECEMBER 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^135
Christie Goodwin