I’m happy, hope you’re happy too…
While we’re all still in Thin White Duke mode with the current S2S/Golden Years/TMWFTE thirty five year celebrations (of which, more to come), I think you’ll appreciate a gallery of ten photographs and accompanying text by Andrew Kent over at
I’m sure you’re all aware that Mr Kent was responsible for many of the very best Bowie shots from the period, not least of all the live images contained within the S2S deluxe package.
But he also spent a short time travelling in Europe with DB, Iggy and Coco as reflected in these words related to the above picture…
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David Bowie, Moscow 1976
David shows his pleasure at finally having arrived in Moscow after a long train trip from Switzerland in the spring of ?76.
En route, David and fellow travellers Jimmy Osterberg (aka Iggy Pop) and photographer Andrew Kent were stopped at the Polish-Russian border, pulled off the train and interrogated by an albino GGB border guard, Andrew recalls. ?We were not expecting you,? the man announced ominously. Apparently, embassy contacts had failed to put their names on a transit list. The only harm done, says Andrew: ?They confiscated a copy I had of Playboy.?
Arriving in Moscow days later, the group again failed to meet up with an assigned contact. While Andrew fretted, David remained calm. ?He was a confident, experienced traveller. We were on our own but David knew how to make his way around. When he gave me the thumbs up, I knew that everything was going to be fine.?
After a quick stop at the Aeroflot head office for assistance, the group arrived at their hotel. ?We got into two separate taxis, they had all the passports in one taxi and I was in another with the baggage. It was the most alone I ever felt in my life. But eventually we got to our hotel, and then spent the rest of the day seeing Moscow.?
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Andrew considers his ?76 European road trip with David, culminating with the shots in Paris, as a highlight of his career. ?This was the best work I?ve ever done for anybody, before or after.?
Well, despite photographing many different performers, Andrew’s comment doesn’t surprise me…after all, Bowie was the best subject he was ever going to photograph. And I bet there are a lot of photographers that agree with that statement. I know I do!