Live Interview 12.02.03 17:00-18:30 GMT
Celebrated photographer David Bailey answers questions from visitors in the first of SHOWstudio's live interviews. The following transcript reveals Bailey's responce to topics ranging from views on sex, skirts and the future of fashion photography, elicited from models, editors, and interested parties from around the world.

Penny Martin, Editor, SHOWstudio: David Bailey, we've asked you to begin our series of live interviews because you are the photographer that really set the paradigm for all subsequent fashion-image makers and the formula that everyone else has emulated or reacted against. Name your best picture.

David Bailey: Snaps of my kids, Fenton, Paloma and Sascha.


Charlotte Cotton, Curator of Photographs, Victoria & Albert Museum, London: Can you describe what motivated you to take a picture at the start of your career? What motivates you to take one now?

David Bailey: What motivates me now is that I'm still trying to get it right.


Nick Knight, London: Did the Krays want a portrait like the one you took? Did you let them see the contact sheets?

David Bailey: No, I didn't ask them. I never show anyone contact sheets.


Grégoire Alexandre, Paris/Jesse Peyronel, New York: How much do you feel the David Hemmings character in 'Blow-up' was based on you? Did you ever have any conversations with director Antonioni about it?

David Bailey: No, two Italian producers came to see me up at Vogue studios. They asked me if I'd like to make a film, because of my bad Italian and thier bad English, I thought they wanted me to direct a film. Then they started to ask me about the way I dressed, which I thought was rather peculiar and then they wanted me to play the part because it was Carlo Ponti's idea to make the movie of a London photographer and a year later Antonioni got involved, who I only met last month for the first time. The way they knew so much about me was through a friend of mine, Francis Wyndham, who I was doing a book with at the time. He wrote a 200 word synopsis on London photographers. I always wondered how they knew that I'd paid £8 for a propellor, since I'd hardly told anyone. The mystery was solved 10 years later when Francis told me that he'd written it. I think he thought I'd be angry, but I couldn't care less. The original casting was Terry Stamp, which would have been better since he was a Cockney. I thought Hemmings was a bit upper-class for the part.


Sylvester Scott, London/Alex Webster, London: Do you ever feel you have become a caricature?

David Bailey: I think everyone in history becomes a caricature and that if you can't laugh at yourself, there's something deeply wrong with you.


Emma Greenhalgh, Yohji Yamamoto, London: It is no secret that photographers are the biggest womanisers in the business. Could it be said that you are partly to blame for creating a blueprint for all egos with a lens?

David Bailey: I think doctors are probably the biggest users of drugs, so your profession dictates to you what's most available. Fortunately, I wasn't a vet.


Brian Noble, Dublin: On shoots you are reputed to talk rudely and aggressively to women, whilst people who know you say that you are sensitive. Why is this?

David Bailey: People think that people are difficult when they know what they want. I don't make a distinction between photographing men or women. I treat everyone the same.


Alexandra Shulman, Editor in Chief, Vogue, London: What does your dream woman look like?

David Bailey: Catherine Bailey, Baroness Blixen, Ava Gardner, Garbo, Georgia O'Keefe, Angelica Huston, Marisa Berenson. To have a dream you have to have a mystery, so I prefer dark-haired women to blondes. My mother looked like a gypsy.


Clark Bessemer, Adelaide: At the beginning of the twentieth century, modelling was synonymous with prostitution. What's changed

David Bailey: So was acting.


Efie Falida, Location Unknown/Oliver Finn, Brussels/Stephen Li, Brighton: How would you describe the relationship between fashion photography and sex?

David Bailey: I fall in love with everyone I photograph, whether they are men or women, when they're in front of the camera.


Terry Jones, Creative Director, i-D, London: What is your definition of beauty now?

David Bailey: It's not now, for always, the definition of beauty is mystery. It's chasing that rainbow that hopefully, you'll never find. Like the Mona Lisa.


Andrew, Derbyshire: I've heard you once did coke off Princess Margaret's tits. Is this true?

David Bailey: I didn't think she drank Coca Cola. She was always much more charming to me than her husband.


Nyla, London: What was it like, being married to Catherine Deneuve?

David Bailey: Catherine Deneuve has a great sense of humour, which I always find attractive. It usually goes with intelligence. It was great.


Chapman, Brussels: What is 'erotic' for you?

David Bailey: I find women more erotic than men and women live more in their minds than men.


Efie Falida, Location Unknown: You captured the spirit of England in the 60s. Do you think you did this for any other decade?

David Bailey: Locations (Archive Two), my new book out in October or November, covers my work in the Seventies, so please buy it and you tell me.


fenton, devon: hi dad

David Bailey: Hi Fenton, always remember: be true to yourself.


Penny Martin, SHOWstudio: What is your response to people who refer exclusively to your 60s work and dismiss your career after that?

David Bailey: I think it's probably a lack of their knowledge of phototography. We're still living in the residue of the 60s.


Oliver Prout, Ravensbourne College: What are the central components of the perfect David Bailey image?

David Bailey: Emotion.


Krasi Genova, Bulgaria: Is it difficult photographing people you know?

David Bailey: It's difficult photographing everyone.


SHOWstudio, Location Unknown: Is black and white better than colour?

David Bailey: There is only two types of images: good or bad. That applies to colour and black and white.


Catalin Lazia, Location Unknown: What's your opinion of digital photography?

David Bailey: It's just another paintbrush.


Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong: Do you charge art directors for them to see your book?

David Bailey: Unfortunately, no. But I wish I was paid every time someone copied one of my pictures.


SHOWstudio, Location Unknown: Avedon called you 'Penn without the ink'. Why? What do you think of Avedon's career?

David Bailey: I think Avedon's great. It was one of the greatest compliments I've ever had. Up until then, I never knew he'd heard of me.


Jeffrey Simmons, New York/Pablo Serrano, Los Angeles: What did you think of Punk? Are there any truly revolutionary ideas in photography today?

David Bailey: I thought Punk was great. It was a social statement, like the 60s. I think you have to take pictures in your own time and let the revolutionary bit happen if it does.


SHOWstudio, Location Unknown: Why did Bob Richardson kiss you?

David Bailey: Because I was devastatingly attractive and I took it as a compliment.


Mohson Iqbal, Kent/Pablo Serrano, Los Angeles: Can you see a future for fashion photography?

David Bailey: Everything has become fashion.


Robin Derrick, Creative Director, Vogue: Are you still waiting for Penn to die?

David Bailey: Mr Penn will never die.


paul, london/Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong/Melanie Ibadlit, Toronto, ON , Canada/Pablo Gimenez Zapiola, Texas/jack, london: Which photographer of all time do you like the most. Why? Which photographer of the last 10 years do you like the most. Why? Which photographer of the last 1 year do you like the most, Why?

David Bailey: I like all photographers that are sincere about what they do.


Abbey Reynolds, Dagenham: Why did you make Stephen Meisel look so foolish on your documentary 'Models Close Up'?

David Bailey: I didn't think I did. He didn't turn up for his interview because his dog was sick, but he is truly a great fashion photographer.


Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong: What do you think of Nick Knight's work? Where do you see it leading?

David Bailey: Is he paying me for today? If so, great. If not so, great as well.


Stephane Ratel, Toulouse: Can you be a fashion photographer without shooting any fashion campaigns?

David Bailey: Yes, if you just do editorial.


Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong: What do you think of Rankin?

David Bailey: I love Rankin. He's a man of enormous energy.


Kate Moss, London/Paul, Italy: Who has copied you best?

David Bailey: Jack Nicholson.


Chris, London: Have you ever considered taking photographs of another subject matter, other than people? Or do you find all other things boring in comparison?

David Bailey: For me, people are obviously more interesting, or the residue of their achievements. I never quite see the point of pictures of trees and rocks and landscapes.


Robin Derrick, Creative Director, Vogue, London: Who do you prefer: Penn or Picasso?

David Bailey: One can't compare people this great. The both did/do what they did/do.


Cristina, Zurich: Which fashion magazines do you read?

David Bailey: The ones that come through the letterbox.


Aurelie Simon, Auckland: What would you change in Vogue today? Would you shoot for them again?

David Bailey: Vogue seems to be doing alright. About 80% of the editorial I do is for Conde Nast, anyway.


Ian Potter, National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford: Comparing the published text of the raw interviews for your Warhol TV documentary with the finished film, one gets the impression that the Factory were distinctly uncooperative to you, more interested in playing games than anything else. What was it like trying to make the film?

David Bailey: Easy. Andy said he'd only do it if I went to bed with him, so we did the interviews in bed. And I love playing chess.


Krasi Genova, Bulgaria: Do you feel comfortable in front of a camera?

David Bailey: Only when the photographer's quick.


Sarah Dawson, London: How much would you charge for a portrait of me and my son?

David Bailey: Too much.


David Grant, Dyslexia Diagnosis, london: Has dyslexia shaped your photography?

David Bailey: I feel dyslexia gave me a privilege. It pushed me into being totally visual.


Nick Knight, London: When we spoke, you said 'it's only really talented people who have bad times'. What was your lowest point and how did you pull yourself through it?

David Bailey: I said that talented people make mistakes because they take more chances, people that are mediocre remain on the same level. I have had no lowest point. Everything that happens to you adds texture to your life.


Darren Flook, London: Is there a photograph of yours, that, given the chance, you would like to go back and re-shoot?

David Bailey: All of them.


Landon, Vancouver: You continuously say you aren't satisfied with your work. What is it you're trying to achieve that you feel you aren't?

David Bailey: If I knew that, I'd acheive it and give up.


Efie Falida, Location Unknown: You began your career as an outsider in terms of social class. Do you still feel the kind of energy that comes from being an outsider?

David Bailey: Outsiders are not limited to the class system. Most artists are outsiders, they're like gangsters. Gangsters dress better.


Grant Cutler, Glasgow: If you are once 'in fashion', consequently, you will in future be 'out of fashion'. How do you deal with this?

David Bailey: When you've been doing it as long as me you realise that fashion is like a yo-yo. I've been in and out of fashion numerous times, but like Frank Sinatra, you can always make a come-back.


SHOWstudio, Location Unknown: If you don't like frocks/fashion, why go on?

David Bailey: I don't dislike them, I'm just not that interested in frocks. I spent five weeks with the cannibals in New Guinea: I didn't particularly like them either. If you do a fashion picture, you have a responsibility to show the dress, otehrwise it becomes a pointless document.


Terry Jones, Creative Director, i-D, London: You did a brilliant anti-fur campaign; what would you do for an anti-war campaign?

David Bailey: Ask the individual if he is willing to pull the trigger and live with that for the rest of his life.


Nick Knight, London: Will you be on the anti-war march on Saturday? What would you do about Iraq?

David Bailey: I might be there as a photographer. Iraq I'd move to Texas.


Nick Knight, London/Sascha, devon: Would you be happy for your children to be fashion photographers or models?/Hi Dad! I think you are the best dad and photographer. Why do you think this is?

David Bailey: I'd be happy for them to be anything that they want as long as they're happy and decent.


Gail Raymonde, London: Do you think models today are as professional in their approach to their work as the sixties girls?

David Bailey: Some are and some aren't. Models are just people like everybody else.


Russell, Berkeley: Do you think college can teach you to be a fashion photographer?

David Bailey: Noone can teach you, it has to come from you.


Dagmara Grabowski, Location Unknown: Which is the one question you wish you weren't asked during interviews?

David Bailey: All the questions have been quite good.


HO KA KIU, HONG KONG: If you are a young photographer, where do you start? Dazed and Confused or Bailey's assistant?

David Bailey: Both.


Michael Harvey, London: Do you think a photographer can be successful if he only posesses the technical skils and does not have 'the eye'?

David Bailey: No.


Peter Andrew, Winchester: Why haven't you ever done Pirelli?

David Bailey: The mysterious 'they' said my pictures weren't sexy enough.


Nick Watt, Location Unknown/Andy Lee, Toronto/Lisa, Location Unknown/Geert De Keyser, Belgium/Vishesh Verma, Mumbai, India: What advice would you give to someone thinking about pursuing a career in fashion photography?

David Bailey: Comfortable shoes.