Nirvana

Photographing the album

NEVERMIND 100 rare photos

Kirk Weddle

N I R VA N A

NEVER MIND THE PHOTOS

“THE COVER OF NEVERMIND HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC IMAGES IN ROCK ’N’ ROLL. THE METAPHOR OF INNOCENCE CHASING MONEY AND CORPORATE GREED SYMBOLIZED THE FACT NIRVANA WERE BEING CONSIDERED SELLOUTS EVEN BEFORE THE MASSIVE SUCCESS OF THE ALBUM.” Butch Vig, producer of Nevermind

An outtake from the August 1991 Nevermind shoot that’s close to the final position of the baby

“THE COVER OF NEVERMIND HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC IMAGES IN ROCK ’N’ ROLL. THE METAPHOR OF INNOCENCE CHASING MONEY AND CORPORATE GREED SYMBOLIZED THE FACT NIRVANA WERE BEING CONSIDERED SELLOUTS EVEN BEFORE THE MASSIVE SUCCESS OF THE ALBUM.” Butch Vig, producer of Nevermind

An outtake from the August 1991 Nevermind shoot that’s close to the final position of the baby

CONTENTS

FOREWORD 11

BY STEVEN WALKER

“WHETHER THEY WERE COMFORTABLE WITH THE DISTINCTION OR NOT, NIRVANA CHANGED MUSIC FOREVER.” Rolling Stone magazine, April 2019

INTRODUCTION 17

BY STEVE FAIRCLOUGH THE ALBUM COVER CONCEPT

BY ROBERT FISHER THE FIRST TIME 56

BY GARY MURDOCH SMELLS LIKE MONEY

BY CARRIE KANIA THE PHOTOSHOOT

58

60

NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY

BY DREW EVANS CREATING A MYTH 180

BY KURT ST. THOMAS CONTRIBUTORS

186

168

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD 11

BY STEVEN WALKER

“WHETHER THEY WERE COMFORTABLE WITH THE DISTINCTION OR NOT, NIRVANA CHANGED MUSIC FOREVER.” Rolling Stone magazine, April 2019

INTRODUCTION 17

BY STEVE FAIRCLOUGH THE ALBUM COVER CONCEPT

BY ROBERT FISHER THE FIRST TIME 56

BY GARY MURDOCH SMELLS LIKE MONEY

BY CARRIE KANIA THE PHOTOSHOOT

58

60

NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY

BY DREW EVANS CREATING A MYTH 180

BY KURT ST. THOMAS CONTRIBUTORS

186

168

54

“PUNK, THROUGH THE SEX PISTOLS DESTROYED THE IMAGE OF THE BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT (IE: THE QUEEN WITH SAFETY PIN THROUGH HER NOSE) – NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS –

GRUNGE, THROUGH NIRVANA DESTROYED THE IMAGE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM; EVEN BABIES CHASED THE MIGHTY DOLLAR – NEVER MIND –” Dennis Morris, photographer

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“PUNK, THROUGH THE SEX PISTOLS DESTROYED THE IMAGE OF THE BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT (IE: THE QUEEN WITH SAFETY PIN THROUGH HER NOSE) – NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS –

GRUNGE, THROUGH NIRVANA DESTROYED THE IMAGE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM; EVEN BABIES CHASED THE MIGHTY DOLLAR – NEVER MIND –” Dennis Morris, photographer

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INTRODUCTION

by Steve Fairclough

ONE FOUR-MONTH-OLD BABY, A FIVEMINUTE SHOOT, TWO PHOTOGRAPHS, 30 YEARS AND OVER 30 MILLION RECORD ALBUM SALES LATER: THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW KIRK WEDDLE SHOT THE COVER OF NIRVANA’S LEGENDARY NEVERMIND LP

Kirk Weddle. Photography by Jeff Burger

The unforgettable image of a naked baby underwater, reaching out to grab a dollar bill is indelibly etched into the consciousness of tens of millions of people around the world. That’s because it graced the iconic cover of Nirvana’s multi-million selling 1991 LP Nevermind – the album that broke the seminal grunge rock band and included the smash hit single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. The man behind the image is commercial photographer Kirk Weddle, a former military man who switched careers and developed a penchant for shooting pictures underwater.

Weddle admits: “I got into photography as a kind of a fluke. I was in the military really young, I got hurt and they agreed to send me to a school of my choice when I got out [of the

16

military]. I thought that photography had got to be the easiest way to make a living and it would be a good way to meet women, so I was like, ‘Sign me up!’. I ended up going to this really good photo school called Art Center in LA – it’s probably one of the top commercial photo schools – and that was my start.”

He continues: “When I got out of school, I was a photo assistant. The late ’80s and early ’90s was a very good time for commercial advertising photography and photography back then was really a skill, using film. I worked on big budget productions, mostly cars, motorcycles and boats – that kind of stuff. There was a big group of people that I worked with and [shooting] underwater was my way of transitioning out of that. I

17

INTRODUCTION

by Steve Fairclough

ONE FOUR-MONTH-OLD BABY, A FIVEMINUTE SHOOT, TWO PHOTOGRAPHS, 30 YEARS AND OVER 30 MILLION RECORD ALBUM SALES LATER: THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW KIRK WEDDLE SHOT THE COVER OF NIRVANA’S LEGENDARY NEVERMIND LP

Kirk Weddle. Photography by Jeff Burger

The unforgettable image of a naked baby underwater, reaching out to grab a dollar bill is indelibly etched into the consciousness of tens of millions of people around the world. That’s because it graced the iconic cover of Nirvana’s multi-million selling 1991 LP Nevermind – the album that broke the seminal grunge rock band and included the smash hit single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. The man behind the image is commercial photographer Kirk Weddle, a former military man who switched careers and developed a penchant for shooting pictures underwater.

Weddle admits: “I got into photography as a kind of a fluke. I was in the military really young, I got hurt and they agreed to send me to a school of my choice when I got out [of the

16

military]. I thought that photography had got to be the easiest way to make a living and it would be a good way to meet women, so I was like, ‘Sign me up!’. I ended up going to this really good photo school called Art Center in LA – it’s probably one of the top commercial photo schools – and that was my start.”

He continues: “When I got out of school, I was a photo assistant. The late ’80s and early ’90s was a very good time for commercial advertising photography and photography back then was really a skill, using film. I worked on big budget productions, mostly cars, motorcycles and boats – that kind of stuff. There was a big group of people that I worked with and [shooting] underwater was my way of transitioning out of that. I

17

“FOR ME, IT HAS THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF HOCKNEY’S SWIMMING POOL PAINTINGS BUT CAPTURING AN INNOCENCE AND AN AIR OF SERENITY, OBLIVIOUS TO THE LURE OF MONEY AND CONSUMERISM THAT THIS CHILD WILL INEVITABLY ENCOUNTER. THE INITIAL SHOCK OF A SUBMERGED INFANT MEANS THAT THIS ICONIC PHOTOGRAPH IS A FAR CRY FROM THE USUAL CUTE BABY PIC, NEVERMIND THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGES FACED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER BEING SUBMERGED IN ORDER TO CAPTURE THIS PERFECT COMPOSITION OF BABY, WATER, REFLECTIONS AND MONEY.”

The four-month-old baby model swims towards the outstretched arms of his mother

Howard Wakefield, creative director at colourandform.uk

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“FOR ME, IT HAS THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF HOCKNEY’S SWIMMING POOL PAINTINGS BUT CAPTURING AN INNOCENCE AND AN AIR OF SERENITY, OBLIVIOUS TO THE LURE OF MONEY AND CONSUMERISM THAT THIS CHILD WILL INEVITABLY ENCOUNTER. THE INITIAL SHOCK OF A SUBMERGED INFANT MEANS THAT THIS ICONIC PHOTOGRAPH IS A FAR CRY FROM THE USUAL CUTE BABY PIC, NEVERMIND THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGES FACED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER BEING SUBMERGED IN ORDER TO CAPTURE THIS PERFECT COMPOSITION OF BABY, WATER, REFLECTIONS AND MONEY.”

The four-month-old baby model swims towards the outstretched arms of his mother

Howard Wakefield, creative director at colourandform.uk

18

19

had gotten fired from this studio, not for anything I did on the job but I got into a brawl in a hotel. The next day one guy told the photographer, ‘Somebody’s beat up my buddy’, so the photographer said, ‘Fire that guy and don’t bring him back unless we get an underwater shot’.”

But getting the bullet from one job was to prove the trigger for Weddle to branch out on his own path. He recalls: “It just clicked with me that maybe if I do underwater work, I can live my own lifestyle and they’ll need me rather than me needing them. Back then it was a very small photographic community and people were doing advertising work underwater – mostly dolphins and sharks.”

Weddle had learnt to dive during his fouryear stint as a Gunner’s Mate in the US navy: “Diving was something I was always really good at and something I enjoyed. It’s funny because I’m self-taught for the underwater part of photography and it was a really bad learning curve for me. It took a long time; I wrecked a lot of equipment and flooded a lot of cameras.”

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On the tribulations of underwater shooting, Weddle explains: “One of my very first jobs I was shooting this trophy underwater, in 30 feet of water, off of Catalina [Island]. At that time, I would try and set up a studio underwater, so I would put a tripod on the ocean floor, lights and everything. I was treading water and I asked this guy, ‘Hand me a sandbag’… and if somebody hands you a sandbag when you’re treading water you immediately hit the bottom of the ocean. Pow! Down I went.

Anyway, it was a long process and the baby shot, the album cover, was one of my first decent jobs underwater.”

THE NEVERMIND COMMISSION By the early 1990s, Weddle was marketing himself as an underwater photographer doing commercial work, with the tagline ‘Specializing in Submerged Human Beings’.

Kirk Weddle’s advert that he placed in a local Workbook – his tagline ‘Specializing in Submerged Human Beings’ was what caught the attention of the then Geffen Records art director, Robert Fisher

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had gotten fired from this studio, not for anything I did on the job but I got into a brawl in a hotel. The next day one guy told the photographer, ‘Somebody’s beat up my buddy’, so the photographer said, ‘Fire that guy and don’t bring him back unless we get an underwater shot’.”

But getting the bullet from one job was to prove the trigger for Weddle to branch out on his own path. He recalls: “It just clicked with me that maybe if I do underwater work, I can live my own lifestyle and they’ll need me rather than me needing them. Back then it was a very small photographic community and people were doing advertising work underwater – mostly dolphins and sharks.”

Weddle had learnt to dive during his fouryear stint as a Gunner’s Mate in the US navy: “Diving was something I was always really good at and something I enjoyed. It’s funny because I’m self-taught for the underwater part of photography and it was a really bad learning curve for me. It took a long time; I wrecked a lot of equipment and flooded a lot of cameras.”

20

On the tribulations of underwater shooting, Weddle explains: “One of my very first jobs I was shooting this trophy underwater, in 30 feet of water, off of Catalina [Island]. At that time, I would try and set up a studio underwater, so I would put a tripod on the ocean floor, lights and everything. I was treading water and I asked this guy, ‘Hand me a sandbag’… and if somebody hands you a sandbag when you’re treading water you immediately hit the bottom of the ocean. Pow! Down I went.

Anyway, it was a long process and the baby shot, the album cover, was one of my first decent jobs underwater.”

THE NEVERMIND COMMISSION By the early 1990s, Weddle was marketing himself as an underwater photographer doing commercial work, with the tagline ‘Specializing in Submerged Human Beings’.

Kirk Weddle’s advert that he placed in a local Workbook – his tagline ‘Specializing in Submerged Human Beings’ was what caught the attention of the then Geffen Records art director, Robert Fisher

21

“IT TOOK A LONG TIME [TO LEARN UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY]; I WRECKED A LOT OF EQUIPMENT AND FLOODED A LOT OF CAMERAS.” Kirk Weddle

Kirk Weddle shooting with the Aquatica underwater housing Photography by Charles Lohman

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“IT TOOK A LONG TIME [TO LEARN UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY]; I WRECKED A LOT OF EQUIPMENT AND FLOODED A LOT OF CAMERAS.” Kirk Weddle

Kirk Weddle shooting with the Aquatica underwater housing Photography by Charles Lohman

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NEVERMIND, NIRVANA’S BREAKTHROUGH 1991 RECORD, CEMENTED THE BAND’S LEGACY INTO LEGEND. THE ALBUM COVER IMAGE OF THE BABY FLOATING TOWARDS A DOLLAR BILL ON A FISH-HOOK IS INSTANTLY RECOGNIZABLE AS ICONIC. NOW – FOR THE FIRST TIME IN BOOK FORM – THE PHOTOGRAPHER BEHIND THE LENS SHARES HIS MEMORIES FROM THAT DAY ALONG WITH HIS NEARLY 140 OUTTAKES, INCLUDING PROMO SHOTS OF THE BAND.

ISBN: 978-1-78884-141-2

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£30.00/$40.00

www.accartbooks.com