c e I e b r i tj photographer
by Davin Seay
"I like spontaneity, the look and feel
of something happening and the ex
citement of trying to capture that
moment. What I do when I'm in
front of the camera is really worlds
away from what I do behind it."
In either case, photography has
been very, very good to 27-year-old
mega-model Christie Brinkley A
photogenic fashion phenomenon,
Ms Brinkley, in seven short years,
has proven her lensworthiness by
becoming one of the highest-paid
models in the business; her sensa
tional face and figure raked in $2
million worth of high-fashion maga
zine layouts, television, and print
advertising in the last year alone
And by this time next year. Christie's
trademark good looks will be at
tracting filmgoers' fancies when she
appears in her first starring role as
the mysterious blonde in the red
Corvette in National Lampoon s Vaca
tion. sharing the screen with Chevy
Chase and Beverly d Angelo.
"I love modeling." Christie as
serts. adding with a quick laugh,
"but not only for the obvious rea
sons When I model, I learn and I've
been learning from some of the
best "
What this Malibu. California, na
tive and current New Yorker is learn
ing is the photographic art. a
dominating obsession for her since
high school days A talented visual
artist in more than one field. Chris
tie turned to photography with
characteristic energy and en
thusiasm when, as a junior high
school graduation gift, she received
her very own Nikon camera
"I was Interested in an arts
career, she recalls, "and was devel
oping my painting and drawing But
photography really spoiled me
There was something so immediate
about it. a very direct kind of creativ
ity I got very heavily into black-&
whlte work, built my own dark room
in the basement, and started dabbl
ing in special effects It was around
the end of the whole psychedelic era
and the point was to make things as
weird as possible I was really into
screens and gels and strange expo
sures It was a good introduction to
the possibilities of the camera'
A high school painting and pho
tography tour of Europe clinched
hei interest in film Even when she
returned to Paris to study painting
at Le Grande Chaumiere, working
part time as an illustrator, her bur
geoning fixation with photography
kept her busily clicking "I'm totally
self-taught," she admits, "and I
think that puts me at a little disad
vantage. I carry around Upton's pho
tography manual wherever I go. but I
still feel I don't know as much as I
should. Of course. I'm in a great po
sition now "
It's an admirable understatement
It was in Paris that Christie was first
approached to model and, climbing
with astonishing speed up the hec
tic, highly competitive fashion lad
der. she quickly found herself pos
ing for such stellar names as Hel
mut Newton. Mike Reinhart. An
thony Scavullo, and Anthony El
court "I listen and watch." she con
fides, "and when I don't understand
something, I ask"
As much as Christie Brinkley can
and does learn from these re
nowned photographers, the calcu
lated, precisely detailed world of
fashion photography bears little re
semblance to her own work. Her in
terest in the blood, sweat, and sen
sationalism of professional boxing
is one of the unusual aspects of
Christie's consuming interest in the
camera
"I'd never really understood the
appeal of boxing, she admits.
Guys I knew would just flip, drop ev
erything to watch a good bout
When I came back to the States, all I
heard about was this big fight,
Muhammad All's last with Larry
Holmes I decided to go to Las
Vegas to check it out It was sort of a
dare really Everyone said I'd never
get in. there were no tickets, it was
the event of the century I ended up
in the front row. shooting like crazy."
Such are the advantages of a fa
mous face "I just walked right into
the press party the night before,"
she explains with a laugh "I was
recognized and I guess they thought
I belonged." Boldly going where no
woman had gone before, she intro
duced herself to legendary fight
promoter Don King who secured her
a ringside seat. "It was the most ex
citing thing I'd ever seen," she enth
uses "I could hardly load the cam
era Almost everything I shot that
night was out of focus, but by some
miracle a few just fell into place. It
was magic just to be there."
Subsequently becoming the cen
ter of considerable interest in the
sports media. Christie was im
mediately pegged as a de-facto
woman boxing expert, offering off
the-cuff and often quite accurate
fight analysis to the eager media An
early fan of Christie s work was Rina
Muiwzini’ editor Randy Gordon, who
hired her to cover dozens of bouts
around the country "I went to every
fight I could," she continues i
started meeting a lot of old-time
professional boxing photographers
— real characters They were great
giving me tips and telling me not
to be afraid to get my elbows up in
the ting I'd end up at the end of the
evening wringing with sweat and
trembling with excitement I think I
was as exhausted as the lighters"
Traveling light — usually packing a
Nikkormat and Olympus OM-2
cameras and no more than three
or four close-up and wide-angle
lenses — Christie confides the secret
of good boxing photography "An
ticipating the punches You've got
to familiarize yourself with a fight
er's style and try to think and see as
he does looking for openings,
probing for the opponent's weak
spots."
A high point in Christie s boxing
photography career came when Don
King hired her to shoot the training
session for the Leonard/Duran bout
in New Orleans. "About a week be
fore the bout," she recalls, "Roberto
Duran decided he wanted to train at
the Louisiana State Prison With an
atmosphere like that, the pictures
couldn't help but be great."
Aside from boxing, Christie also
has a growing interest in photo
graphing Formula One racing,
thanks to her boyfriend. French
racer and champagne heir Olivier
Chandon. “In any kind of sports
shooting it helps to have a special
in," she says, "someone to get you
behind the scenes to where the ac
tion is really taking place.
"It's unusual for me to take a pic
ture without a person in it, doing
something That's why the work I did
around the Grand Canyon was a real
change of pace for me."
On location earlier this year for
National Lampoon's Vacation. Christie,
as were countless millions before
her, was drawn to the timeless
splendor of the Grand Canyon. "It
was strange," she muses. "It's such a
monument that it's difficult to know
just how to approach it. A lot of
times I felt as if someone had just
rolled an enormous backdrop in be
hind me. It got me thinking about
new ways to photograph land
scapes. to try and avoid the
cliches. In the end I tried to cap
ture a feeling more than anything.
Not so much the majesty of it all,
but the little things . the details
that make it seem real."
The Grand Canyon, as well as
other locations in the Southwest
stood as a unique challenge to
Christie's discerning photographic
eye. "I needed to get beyond the
tourist shots, to find something that
gave a sense of the utter emptiness
of that place. So much of it is not
the glorious desert landscape
you've come to expect but really
huge expanses of nothing. That's at
least as interesting to me as the
mesas and sunsets."
This attention to detail carries
over into Christie's sports photog
raphy. "1 want to put together a
book on boxing from an outsider's
view. To pick up on the small things
that escape most people's vision.
It's boxing beyond the punches. To
me, the expression on the face of a
boxer’s girlfriend is at least as inter
esting as what's going on in the ring.
It’s all part of the excitement, the
spontaneity, and that’s what makes
photography so different from any
other form of expression. The ability
to capture and hold that split sec
ond when it all comes together "
While m beetle* fer National
Lampoon's Vacation, Cbrittle
ipandered eft bite a mrndew end
befriended bee celts, whe seem te
prefer bbndes ...
Christie Brinkley oh her tain#
shots. "You've got to . . think
end see as [o fighter} does ...
looking for openings, probing for
the opponents weak spots.”