The man behind the
ALBUM
COYER
Moshe Brakha (above), photoa
rapher & )onl Mitchell from <1
recent Brakha session
bv Byron Laursen
fter eight years cb
M % serves l.ori Chapman,
iLj slylisl lor Israel born
/ % commercial photogra
jL. pher Moshe Brakha I
still understand him only about hall
the time
Brakha. one ol the leading names
in album cover art, seems to lie
moving too last loi the Inghsh Ian
gunge The two of them have worked
out a truce, trading comptehensibll
ity lor momentum while Brakha
fours his energies into n careei
based on up to the minute imageiy
Since Bo/ Scaggs |*»7S album Silk
Detfrers featuring a Brakha covet
turned multiplatinum rock stars
and their managers have beat a path
down Brakha s phone wiles Paul
Alika ( the Musk Man I Pi. The
Ramones (lorn- Homel Ritchie lla
veils 11 aid a! the IVamninal and Neil
Young have been among his clients
Typically, stats come to Btakh.i to
modernize and intensify their image
with his hyper-natural, close-lit, col
or-saturated style
I don’t even have a business
card," Brakha confides after jotting
his number on a cadged slip of
paper for an anxious rock group
manager We. Brakha and Chapman
and I have just trucked over from
his mid-Wilshire district studio to a
Beverly Hills sidewalk cafe At the
studio we looked over first yields of
his current project, sessions with
the eternally changeable folk rock
and maybe jazz performer/writer
loni Mitchell As a table is cleared
for us, Brakha dashes across Rob
ertson Street to use a pay phone
then scoots back In black oxfords,
white socks, black denims, a white
Brooks Brothers oxford cloth but
tondown with tails flying free and a
pomaded flattop haircut, he looks
like a Fifties hot rodder with an
Eighties twist
She's so easy (to work with),
says Brakha ol Mitchell, "but she's
still very opinionated
Mitchells early training was in ait
and she has painted nearly .ill of her
own album covers In fact, even with
Brakha on the job she intends to
paint the cover ol this newest opus,
Wilil Tftrmjs Rum Free She has always
seemed rigorously in control of all
as|xvts ol hot public image While
dozens of other singers have inlet
preted her songs, Mitchell seldom
records songs written fry .anyone
else but her
She was wonderful, says Chap
man She was very receptive to ev
etylhing we had to suggest t ssen
tinllv. we went through her closets
and pulled out everything we liked
Compared with how she used to
dress betels and leatliei boas and
all that we went loi an absence ol
detail
She needs strong visual, says
Brakha loiget yesterday! She
needs to remake her tnntge up to
contemporary fashion I let past
doesn't leal me1
Then lust session at one ol
Mitchell's luxurious homes left
Brakha naggmglv displeased The
next time after setting up an elalio
rate overhead shot that captures
Mitchell and a slice of a piano's in
nards. Brakha felt he had some of
the most successful images of his
career Still scheduled is a session
of head shots and a series to be
taken in and around Carnegie Hall,
utilizing reflections from window
glass.
I told her she reminded me of
Edith Piaf. Brakha says, imitating —
to our waitress's puzzlement — the
celebrated French singer's way of
drawing her hands alongside her
face while emoting "She said that
Piaf is one of her idols So we be
came friends right away Her hands
have beautiful expression! Today
we re supposed to do head shots,
but I'm going to have her bring her
hands up!
Brakha s method is to spend long
periods - up to fout hours - setting
u(i a camera angle and lighting sit
nation, then to place his subject in
that constructed universe and shoot
quickly Once he amazed an art di
lector by expending only one roll ol
him on a crucial ad campaign "I
told him It-, okav. wove got it.
Brakha gloats toothily l ust Btakha
shoots'shot .liter shot using instant
him in order to petted the setup
t hen he switches I fie back ol ins Has
selblad camera to a l.’O magazine
and shoots conventional film Foi
color he pieteis Kodak I ktachiome
him and a magenta litter Black 6
white is .usually K.slak Panatomic X
or Plus X (vin film
I always Use as much light as
possible usually thiee ma|ot
lights Hiakha says t hat s how you
build i ontiast arid contours I con
sidei light tile makeup ol photogia
phy Close lighting gives his photos
a i oloi diene tied mote leal than
leal look Rich lighting also allows a
liny u(x-inire setting His favorite is
I tins creates a strong depth ot
field, which means that foreground
and baikground ob|ects all appear
in sharp locus Again the effect is
hypeinatuial I want to get as much
as votu eye can see and more
■■ays Brakha
lie always has to give things an
extia twist says Chapman