Prince Celebration 2022 Launch Party and Q&A with Robert Whitman

June 11, 2022
Darling Nisi
Celebration
0

The following is an archive of a twitter thread detailing daily happenings at Prince Celebration 2022. Edited for clarity but maintaining original format.

Hit the tweet below to see a walk through of the launch party!

#princecelebration2022 Launch Party https://t.co/AHtzTk48xE
— Darling Nisi (@darlingnisi) June 3, 2022

Q&A with Robert Whitman now! He’s giving his origin story of becoming a photographer. He was just starting out and was helping test out photography equipment for a local store.

He felt he didn’t really know what he was doing with the follow on work he did, but kept getting work. Traveled around the world building his portfolio.

What led him to Prince : Gary Levinson told him to listen to a tape. He listened to it in the car (while stoned 😂). The song they listened to was Soft and Wet. Gary took him to the recording studio and he met Prince.

Manager asked if he could do pictures of Prince for a press kit. “mainly because they knew they didn’t have to pay me very much”.

Did 3 shoots. Used wide angle lens for the first time. Got great shoots of Prince.

Street shots are from around the corner from this mural. P was shy, Robert said “Make love to the camera” to get him to move.

“You can tell he had a great body and a great butt”

Audience question : Do we know who the lady is in the picture? Answer : “somebody’s mother”

Q. Who dressed Prince? A. “No stylist, no makeup artist. It was just him and me.”

Q. What’s your plan for the NFT space? A. He doesn’t want to comment on this at this time.

Q. How long did the shoot take and what off the record conversations did you have? A. Didn’t have long conversations. Shot 3 afternoons. Music wall, studio, manager’s house.