"Julian Lennon: Music, Memories and Making a Difference"

Published Dec 3, 2024, 8:00 AM

Join @TheBuzzKnight for this intimate conversation with the one and only Julian Lennon. Julian continues to have a remarkable career that spans music, film, photography and philanthropic work. He has a new photography book coming out called "Life's Fragile Moments" which represents a portion of his body of work as a first-class photographer.

Jules shares insights into his creative process as a musician and a photographer, his diverse musical interests and his work with his charity "The White Feather Foundation."

If you have questions contact buzz@buzzknightmedia.com

Find us on Instagram @takinawalkpodcast.

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Taking a Walk.

A lot of artists and a lot of people get pigeonholed all the time, and I've always hated that concept of pigeonholding. I don't understand it. I don't see the logic behind it, you know. For me, art his art, photography is photography. Music is music. It doesn't matter what genre or where it comes from.

Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast, where Buzz Night explores the lives and legacies of artists of all kinds, and today is no exception as Buzz is joined by Julian Lennon, whose life has been shaped by his legacy, his personal exploration, and his advocacy. Julian's carved the path in the music and philanthropic world which continues to leave an indelible mark in both worlds. He emerged as an artist at an early age, working not only in music, but in the world of photography as well. He continues to push the boundaries of his creative and artistic side while continuing to focus on his commitment to environmental conservation through the White Feather Foundation, which he founded in two thousand and seven. Julian has carved a path which is fascinating and he joins Buzznight on this episode of Taking a Walk Right.

Now, Julian, congratulations on your new photography book, Life's Fragile Moments. I'm so grateful that you're on Taking a Walk. Can you tell me how excited you are to get this out for the world to enjoy it?

Very very excited, And you know, it's it's been many years in the making. In fact, you know, I had hoped to have done in a book sooner, but you know, certain things happen at certain times for certain reasons, and I think certainly this was an opportune time, and the publisher, to Noise, you know, came to me earlier this year approached me to do a book, and you know, they said, what do you think, what would you consider? You know, what do you how do you want to approach this? And I said, well, listen, the reality is is that the majority of the people out there don't even know I'm a photographer, a fine out photographer. So for me, the best way forward that I can see is that the book is a retrospective of sorts, or should I say, an overview of the better work from all the recollections that I've done over the years to give people an indication of what I get up to when I'm behind the camera. It was a very very difficult project to work on with very little time. And I'll explain why. Is that we had I had the opportunity to do the book, and I also have an opportunity to do the biggest exhibition of ever done and a museum exhibition in Venice over the past couple of months, alongside the b and rl aids. So I had the opportunity of doing both of these things. So, but they were separate projects, but I wanted to bring them together so that the book would release at the same time as the exhibition was going to come about, et cetera, et cetera. That's why when I agree to this, that the that it became a really tough cookie to work on a number of levels because in order to get the book finished, edited, published in time for the opening of the exhibition, we had to work on it yesterday. All I can say is I was very thankful for the publishers and the and the art director Yan because he was a lovely guy. Now, I can't imagine trying to work in a virtual world or like this, because the publishing company was based in Berlin and I'm elsewhere, so we had to work through mediums like this, and so editing down hundreds, if not thousands of images for this book was very, very painful, and the reason being was the fact that a lot of my earlier collections, especially were anywhere between thirty and fifty photographs, and those were from thousands edited down from thousands. So being told that we need to take fifty images and make them five images to represent that collection was a daunting, daunting prospect. But the editing process, although very very scary at the beginning, became a real learning tool in how to really focus, how to really express the important stuff and the important images from such a vast choice, and so going through all the different collections, it was certainly tough at the beginning, but as time went on and we only had a few weeks to do this, and this was literally nine hours a day based to face with my artistic director Jan going through the files and folders, barely enough time for the bathroom or a cup of fee dare I say, and never mind food. But at the end of the day, an incredible learning process and I think, I mean, I'm beyond happy. I mean I was almost almost tearful when I first this is the first one that came off the pretz and it was in my suitcase. It's a little damage, but I still kiss it every once in a while at the Belani Stone, you know, for good luck, because I can't believe, you know, that I've finally done it. You know, I wasn't sure it would ever happen. So to have the biggest exhibition, museum exhibition I've ever done and the book out at the same time is so so special. And you know, again it's been available since the exhibition over in Europe, but you know it's just going to become available in the US early December. So I'm you know, I mean, I'm very very excited for people to see this stuff. You know. You know, it's a lot of blood, sweat and tears, believe it or not, over the years in trying to do the best job I can what I do, and you know, to take on another medium like photography, you know, there are always a lot of naysayers, but again I think you just bury your head in the work, get on with the creativity, get on with the focus of what you want the end result to be. And I couldn't be happier. And I think the title represents the book and its contents remarkably well. It was not my title, although it is a lyric title from a song of mine called Disconnected, But Life's Fragile Moments really did represent all of the elements that we see in the book, all of the different collections, the flow, the feel of the book, the the over the overview, and the overall feel of it. So I think I think it's worked really well. And you know, so far so good. I was so far so good.

Well, you know it's going to make a great Christmas gift, certainly for you say so.

If you say so, I didn't say that.

I definitely say that. And for me it's going to make a great one to give to my wife, who happens to be a photographer and is an amazing fan of your work.

Oh, thank you kindly. That's lovely to hear. That's lovely to hear. Funnily enough, I'm always surprised to hear that. It's a weird thing, you know. I've always related that to music obviously in the past, that people like what you do, but then hearing it about your photography is I mean, it's the most pleasant thing I could ever hear. Believe you me. But again, I've worked hard at this and I think there's some good stuff in there, you know that. I'm very proud, very proud. I want to come back to photography, but I do want to talk about you being throughout.

Your career sort of a master of multiple you know, wonderful pieces of work, whether it be your film, whether it be music, whether it be the children's book aspect of things. Did you get this diverse set of interests early on in life?

You know, I've always been interested. I've been always been a bit scatter brained as well. I mean they call it adhd these days or whatever. Add I'm all over the place all the time. But yeah, I've always found you know, if I if I can't find a way forward with one thing, or I need a temporary break from it to breathe, that I can't just sit around on a beach twiddle in my thumbs. I have to something else to do, you know. Photography became a major player in that and that in that way. Yeah, it's it's whenever I found myself at a loose end or I need a diversion, diversionary tactic just so I can come back to things. And I say, I think the same thing with Also it works with, you know, writing books, and the same thing works with putting collections together or even editing documentary films. It's that same kind of thing. And I've always enjoyed doing multiple things. I think I lose my mind if I just stayed the one course. And you know, the fact of the matter is, even though I took you know, very large breaks in between a number of albums in the past to actually live and breathe again, you know, I did over thirty years of my life doing music, and I thought, you know, to have an opportunity to work on another medium that interests me that I can still be creative with. And also the reality being for the first time ever I could be behind the lens was something that I really really enjoyed because I you know, I can do the in front of the camera stuff, but it's not my favorite thing to do. It really isn't, and I'm much much happier behind the behind the camera lens and behind the scenes. You know, I don't mind coming out and saying lifting the rock up and waving every once in a while, but that's personally as far as my level of happiness in life or contentment, that's where I prefer to be. So I'm still working, I'm still doing all of these jobs, wearing all of these hats, but just in a different way than I did for and more focused on the work and the creativity rather than what's expected from the outside. You know.

So you kind of were reading my mind from my next question, a perfect day for you in terms of happiness, It sounds like just being incredibly busy and working on multiple things is a perfect day. Is that correct?

Pretty much?

So?

Yeah, on the creative front, yeah, I do find and I have to say this, and you know, I have an incredible manager, Rebecca, who I work with these days. She's it's more of a partnership. You know, we discuss everything beforehand. But more often than not, you know, you can tend to have to deal with a lot of admin with many many art forms. I'm not one also to just say no, you're go and take care of that, you know, as a manager or otherwise. Yeah, I have to be part of the process all the way down the line. Unfortunately, the admin can bog you down sometimes, I mean There's been days before Rebecca came along where I was micromanaging myself. I'd literally wake up in the morning and there'd be one hundred emails at my desk, and as I'm working through that, you know, I'd finish the first thirty and you know, want to go and get a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, and by the time I come back, there's another thirty to fifty emails. And it was this, It became this endless, insane cycle of where's the creativity, you know, where's the main focus of what this is all about. For me, that's been crucial for me to keep an eye on that and an eye on the balance of keeping that where it should be, keeping the ad still doing it, but keeping it at bay because it's been so admin orientated over the last few years with exhibitions and books and there. I mean, the creative elements of that have been exciting but exhausting too. But I really want to look to the future, especially you know, beginning with next year really and think about what I want to create and where I want to go and what I want to do, you know, get back to that again, because without that element of it, there's nothing, you know, And to me, that's everything the creative aspect and the great thing and the fortunate thing I guess that I can throw at you at this point in regards to all of this stuff is that. And I'm very fortunate in this regard is that most of the projects that have come along, again, no matter what medium, have all been organic, you know, and all been all felt right at the right time. I've only ever followed through and what on what my gut tells me these days and what my heart tells me, you know, too many times I've been let astray and taking them down the wrong road, and I just it's it's it's it's not worth it. It's really not worth it to be unhappy at the end of the day or or or have too many regrets, you know. And I, you know, I feel privileged being an artist as such in all these mediums, and and again fortunate that I'm able to do so many things, and that in it in of itself is inspiring so creative blocks.

I'm sure when you hit a creative block, you probably could go get a cup of tea, go get a cup of coffee, whatever. But since this podcast is called taking a walk, do you take a walk to.

That's what I do. That's exactly what I do. Yeah, I've also you know, I dealt with my fair amount of depression in my time too, and I still deal with a fair amount of anxiety on occasion where I do build ultimately overwhelmed by you know, I almost almost have that sense of agoraphobia where I can't really leave the house. I don't feel like I can leave the house. And the one thing I know I should do when I feel like that is leave that house, so that even if that's to go and get you know, some milk or some bread, or get a newspaper or But you know, I also I was never really one. I was never a gym guy. I never liked the you know, no thanks, you know, I think, to be honest, if you're active in your life anyway, if you move a lot anyway, that's enough for me. You know, I live and carry heavy stuff around all the time. But the walking aspect of it has absolutely become a priority for me. You know, A lot of that can be weather dependent, especially you know, if there's not a good spell of weather for a week or two, you can get a bit down on yourself. For that. But again the man, I feel that anxiety, come on, I go, I've got to get out, I've got to walk. And whether that's in the mountains, you know, normally I would have to take like a ten minute drive just to get to a location that is beautiful to walk, So that would be up in the mountains or down by the sea, walking along some peninsula, and also without question taking the camera along with me, you know, because you know, you just never never know when you're going to be inspired one way or the other. So yeah, at man three times a week for a good a good while, you know, and generally a power walk. But but I'm always inspired when I do that, and I always I'm able to breathe and feel free and alive and in the moment again to be able to go back in and go right where we at, you know, and get stuck in again.

I love the teachings of the late Vietnamese monk Ik not Han, who is is so wonderful, and he talks about it in terms of you know, savoring the moment. Really yeah, and I think taking that walk allows you to savor a moment as well, don't you think.

I think it's probably the only time in the day bar actually waking up and before you go to bed, and your mind, you know, reels you know about life and your day. I think the walking element is really where you are present, completely present. And again for me, I have to I would have to say it's not dissimilar to how I started and when I started taking photographs, which is back in the old days with long haul flights, you know, to America and back in Asia, you know, and the and the old days, you know, you only had one movie on a projector on the middle of the plane. Once that was ober, you're done. We didn't have anything to gains and things to play with. We didn't have, you know, fifty other films to watch or do it. Most people would go to sleep, but I could never for the sleep on the plane, and I would always stare out the window at the clouds, whether that was you know, at night or you know, the sunsets or sunrises, and I'd always be you know, I started taking photographs of the clouds because I thought, these are fleeting moments, These last for a second, they will never be the same again. It's just like our lives. So it taught me to be present in the moment and appreciate what was going on at any different point in time. But it also allowed I think and that the same for me is true of walking, is that it's a moment where you can do one of two things. You can either empty your mind, blow all the cobwebs out, not think about anything, breathe it all in and just look at the scenery around you and appreciate it. Or it gives you an opportunity away from everything else to clearly think about what you're doing, what you know, your pros and your cons in life, How are you moving you know, how are you moving forward? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So and I think you can achieve both. You know, you can actually go in with a head full of questions and at the end of it come away, you know, with a balance and being able to breathe without that stress. I think it without questions a major stress reliever, you know. And I throw a lot of stress on my shoulders, I really do, because I want the work that I'm doing to be the best and it can be. So I'm always, you know, on myself, so that walking, those walking moments are very very special, have become all of the most important thing of my day really because it allows me to do everything else.

So I want to talk musical influences if I can, And obviously the Beatles are a major influence in your life. Do you have particular albums or periods of the Beatles or songs that are you know, most important to you.

In general? No, not as such. I mean there's there's there's a few artists. I mean, yeah, occasionally I'll catch Beatle stuff, you know, on the radio, I mean, because they're still playing it all the bloody time. But you know, I have a few key artists that I love, and I've mentioned these guys many times. You know, it's you know, it's like Keith Jarrett, the Clone Concert, Steely Dan pick An album on. It's like you know that that I will always go back to and listen to, you know, if if, if they come to mind. But in general, I have to say that on a listening front, especially when I'm working here in front of the computer and more often than not editing collections and photographs and bring things together, I'll have I'll have the radio on, and I do have a particular face. I don't know whether I should mention it or not, but you know you can edit it out.

But absolutely not.

I won't.

Well, I'm a particular fan and have been for ten years plus now since I've learned of the station. It's called the CACRW Eclectic twenty four, and I always have it on in the background because it always has independent, new up and coming artists, but generally artists that are really creative, really melodic, really unique, and stuff you just don't get to hear on regular radio these days. You know, you're either still dealing with the same kind of top twenty, top forty scenario, or you're not hearing any other new, interesting music unless it's a particular station for seventies rock and roll you know, or you know you name it. So at least that station gives me a wide variety of new artists that comes through that. It's generally how I learn of new musicians, new singers, and new artists that I become a fan of. And you know, once I hear that, use the apt to figure out who it is, you know, and then I'll go and find their album and I'll put that on a play. I'm one of those guys that once you find a good album, that are it will be on repeat for the next three months until I really I've had enough, you know. But I'll still always be a fan. But yeah, you know, I've got a couple of key favorites like that.

I think you're the only person I've ever spoken to who can say that a range of music that they like spans Keith Jarrett to a C. D C.

Well, why not listen? Why? You know, as you can imagine, I think that a lot of artists and a lot of people get pigeonholed all the time. And I've always hated that concept of pigeonholding. I don't understand it. I don't see the logic behind it. You know. For me, artist, art, photography is photography. Music is music. It doesn't matter what genre or where it comes from. If if it gets you feeling at all, whether that's energized, or whether that's emotional, or whether that's deep thinking or I think everything should be available to you. That's that's why again that I wear many hats. I don't. I don't want to be in a box. Who says you have to be in a box? No, thank you. You know, if you've got the will and the mind to go for it, then you should go for it. And certainly that's what I've done, you know, and that's why I love every kind of genre of music. But you know, there's not much I don't like, you know, I just happened. I take a lot of kids in their early teens, especially from my era, certainly loved, you know, some serious rock and roll, whether it's you know, a heavy metal to a degree as well, but you know, the Ozzy Osbourne. The list goes on. But ac DC were the first band that I ever saw live at the age of sixteen, and that was when Bond Scott was singing back in the day and Angus was on his shoulders. That was a memorable time, you know, and hey they're still going strong today. It just shows you that, you know, the good stuff sticks around, you know.

Yeah, I love it.

I first met you in nineteen eighty four when Volot came out and you game to another lifetime. It was a lifetime for me as well. But I was so just impressed with you on how in control of the situation you were with all the you know, pressure you had to be your own person and obviously then coming into the limelight, how did you make it look so easy.

I don't know about that. Well. Number one, I think it was so shy for the most part that I kept Prettique quiet and pretty much to myself. I think, and I've mentioned this a number of times before, that you know, I had to look to the only person who really I respect and loved throughout my life, which was my mother Cynthia, you know, and I watched her go through what she had to go through in the public eye with such grace and such poise and elegance. She just showed me that no matter what they throw at you, just keep on keeping on and be strong and believe that you're worth it. Yeah. I know that sounds like a hair commercial these days, but I think you understand what I mean. It's just, yeah, yeah, what other way out is there? You know? You either deal these gracefully and move forward, or it becomes a negative and it becomes distractive and it becomes and then why are you there in the first place. So, you know, it was just a question of learn as you go along, try and hold it, hold it all together, and just do it the best job you can. And that's all I've ever tried to do, really, you know, I think a lot of the problems in retrospect that happened, you know, was the industry itself. That's why I got out of it so many times. Because sure, the creativity, the work, the recording and the live performance were all joys. But again the admin, the people behind the scenes and what was so what they were trying to get out of you, that was another story altogether, you know. And I have to say that, you know, there were few and far between good people in the industry, and that's just being absolutely honest, you know. You know, there's always a good few, you know, but the hard to find someone who was true to themselves and to everybody else.

We'll be right back with more of the Taken a Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.

Well, you had a couple of people, though, who were your core background, if you will, your core foundation back then.

One is your your lifelong friend Justin right, Justin Layton, and then also for that work in eighty four, Phil Ramone. Can you talk about both of them? I mean, obviously you still work and collaborate with Justin, but talk about what those two lads meant to you then and mean to you now.

Well, I mean Justin and I met when we were eleven years old, so we go way back. I mean we literally touch every other day because, you know, just briefly, the last album, Jude was made up of songs from thirty years ago and relatively new songs, and we've been working for five years trying to make those older songs sound new.

By the way, Julian, I think, yeah, I think I think that that album deserves more recognition by the public. I think it's fantastic, thank you.

I just don't think enough people have got to hear it. And again, I you know, I don't want to say that's the label's fault, but I did everything I could to get it out there, that's for sure. But yeah, Justin and I are still working. We still have boxes of old tracks that we're well. I mean, I said I'd never do another album last time, but I think really this last album, Jude was the last. But that doesn't mean I'm stopping by any means. I mean, I'm planning to release like a three to five song EP of stuff that we're working on right now that I would say is more in tune with a little more Indie, a little more Pretenders meets XTC. So I'm looking to have a little bit of fun the tracks that they are already, so we're just it's just about finishing and cleaning them up a bit. But Justin and I, you know, I take all friends and family members go through their ups and downs, and I'm not going to say it was always roses with everybody. I mean anybody and everybody in life. That happens. But we're still hanging in there forty years later, for fifty years later, oh don't even get me counting. So and I'm happy for that, you know, I'm happy that we're still you know, he really is my oldest friend and I trust him musically. He's a great producer. He is a great engineer, a great say, a great writer and performer. Phil, of course, it meant the world to me when you know, Atlantic back in the day asked me, you know who I'd love to produce the first album, and I said Film Ramone due to Billy Joel's Nylon Curtain album, which there was some beatlesque elements to that, but there was a quality and in his writing and the production that I just fell in love with. And then I just remember receiving a phone call from Phil Ramone, you know, about working together, which I was shocked. You know, I was still a naive young kid at that point in time. Again, we've all had our demons in the past, and Phil certainly had a fair amount of those. Two one of the things that saddens me the most was the fact that, you know, his dear wife Karen had lupus. And I became the US ambassador for the Loopers Foundation of America because my dear friend Lucy, who was the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, died of lupus. And at the last event that I was at for the Loopers Foundation of America in New York, I didn't know Phil's wife Karen had loopas and she was there and he was there, and it had been the first time I had seen him in years. I'd run in term before and the relationship was a bit cold. But we saw each other at the at this at this Garla event in New York, and it was like falling in love again because we got on so well, and we'd missed each other so much that we talked about, you know, getting back in the studio together. I was longing for that, and then of course it wasn't long after that that he sadly passed, which was a real, real shocker to me because I felt like it was a book that was never finished. The pages had closed on us too soon, which was a real shame because I felt we had more to do together.

You know, I want to talk about the White Feather Foundation, and you're great, sure work there, and so would you first, would you tell the amazing story about the weight Feather, about what your dad said to you, and then how you came upon the weight Feather ultimately.

Yeah, yeah, I'll tell that in reverse order. But yeah. So I was in Australia. I had a number one song at the time called Saltwater, which is an environmental song, which did very well around the world except America, but that's another story. Anyway. I was in Adelaide. We were on a promo tour but playing live shows too, and I was approached in the hotel by an indigenous group called the Morning People and they wanted to see me down in the lobby. I thought, what's this about. I thought it was a joke. At first, I thought it was a prank. The management said, no, no, mister Lena, there's an Aboriginal group down here with some TV crews and a number of people, and they really would like to see you. And I said, all right, well, I don't know what this is about, but I'll go down and I the elevator opens and there's this one step up onto this sort of platform and all these people and I'm going, oh, what is this about? And the elder who was this woman called Iris, she was the elder of the tribe. She walks up to me and it's on camera, it's on film, and she presents me with a white feather. It's a male swan's white feather. It's about fifteen inches long, something like that. And she said to me, you know, can you help us? You have a voice, or you have a voice? Can you help us? And it was that point in time that I thought, well, or do I continue being a rock and roller or do I step up to the plate. The real thing about this, and the real reason I got I did step up to the playton that I got goose bumps at this moment in time was the fact that Dad had said to me. And I couldn't tell you where or when or what time it was. It just wasn't one of those things. But it was clear as day that he said to me, listen, if something happens to me, to let you know that I'm going to be okay, or that we're all going to be okay. It's going to be It'll be in the form of a white feather. And so when I received that white feather, to me, that was undeniable truth, undeniable connection with the spiritual world. I'm not a religious guy, but spiritual yes. So from that, you know, I went away and thought about the situation, and I learned about the plight of that particular indigenous tribe, and then and the indigenous tribes all across the globe, I mean, like eighty different tribes, and A made a documentary about them called Whale Dreamers. It took ten years. We weren't supported, and we didn't have sponsors, but we weren't about eight International Independent Film Awards, and I thought, you know, if this film does any good or make some money, you know, I want the money to go back to the indigenous tribe so that they can keep hold of their culture and buy back their lands that they've been kicked off of, et cetera, et cetera. And the only way I could do that back in those days, was to actually do it through a foundation. Hence the White Feather Foundation was born. So the moment the Internet came about, you know, I set up a web page to sell the film and you know, on video tape and the vds. Eventually and all of a sudden, you know, I'd start getting these emails saying well, can you help us? And can you help us? And I'm going, oh, hold on, I said, listen, you know, I'm not really a foundation. This is a vehicle for the film if the film makes money to help the indigenous. But then after so many I started thinking, well, you know again, I've got a platform here. I should I should use it to help those who have no voice basically, and so I decided that the whiteside of foundation should be something. It should be more than just that. And that's when I decided to follow through on subjects that affected me the most. Number one was indigenous causes around the world. Number two clean water. I don't care how many charities there are claiming to do or doing clean water. Everybody we deserve to have clean water. So we help where we can. We work with NGOs around the world, doing whatever we can, all based on donations by the public, by the way, so it's thanks to my fans and people out there that see what we're doing, who donate fifty cents a dollar. Every penny makes a difference. The other things have been health, clinics and schools. So health and education is another one of our causes. I mean, I always tend to believe that we are. We're not a big foundation. We never went that route. I never wanted to do that. But what they do feel that we do is that a lot of causes, a lot of people get lost between the cracks. What the White Feather Foundation tries to do is catch those pauses and again help those people without a voice. Again thanks to our audience that we get things done. When Mum passed away, I decided to do a scholarship in her name, the Cynthia Lena Scholarship for Girls, where we put young girls from Africa and around the world in fact, but predominantly in Africa through a college and university. Many of them that I spoke to want to go back to their little towns and protect be lawyers, to help protect their families and their friends from the villages that they came from. You know, so it's a nice circle that how that operates. But yeah, so it's always been a very important thing. And the only other thing I'll say about it is that whatever hat I'm wearing, if I'm making any money, then a proportion of whatever I make, whether it's the book sales, whether it's the documentary, whether it's the music or the children's books, proportion of the money that I make certainly goes to the White Feather Foundation to keep it ticking along. Certain pay everybody that works there, you know, you know, but that's that's that's how we that's how we roll. And again thanks for the donations, because without people we you know, we wouldn't exist.

Bravo, bravo. So you mentioned though spirituality back there, and I produce this other podcast it's called Music Save Me. It's about the healing power of music. You personally believe music has healing powers.

Yeah, that without question, without question. I can't be precise in how it does that, but certainly with certain sounds, moods tones, uh elevations, arrangements, styles, you can certainly be lifted out of the doldrums. You can certainly become more introspective and be able to work on yourself through that mode as well. Yeah, I mean music it's not my go to on a personal level, but certainly there'll be moments where I just decide that I want to sit down and I'll say, you know, I'll just open the windows and open the doors and play a bit of music, and that again will well allow me what I will now call a cloud moment, which is where you find those moments of peace and think about nothing or you think about everything you know. And I think just having that connection alone allows you to move forward and be motivated and make some important decisions in life. So yeah, it definitely music affects your rhythm, your soul, your heart, your mind absolutely without question.

Can you take me back to your first experiences with a camera?

The first I recall, well, it's a bit difficult to say, but because I just remember as a kid that pretty much every family on the planet, whether they had a real camera or whether they had one of those throwaway cameras that used to buy at the pharmacia or the airport, you know, and you take it back the next day and they printed out for you. You know those you know, those those were take for taking a snap of a moment in time, they weren't. You know, you weren't focusing, you weren't dealing with any of the technical aspects of it. Yeah, I remember I used to that I used to have one of those, or Mum used to have, or we we shared the camera. I think the first time a camera became relevant tool was probably visiting Dad in I think it was in New York. I know that there were cameras around, and I know that also when he had his lost weekend with May May Pang that you know, she was a photographer, so so there were cameras around. But I think the one thing, and it's funny, I was talking about this before, the one thing that excited me the most was the camera that Dad had called the Polaroid SX seventy land camera, which is the one I have here. The reason I was intrigued about this because it was fascinated by its look and it's feel and how it unfolded and from a flat block became this really quite unique camera. And I loved the fact that you didn't have to do any developing and you see, so I I fell in love with this cament and played around with it a lot. I have many many filed away pictures, a lot of black and white, high contrasts, but color stuff too. But and then that kind of that kind of fell to the wayside, and I was far more involved in music again da da da. But I think when the true interest in photography came back for me. Although I did try working with film and camera, but I was a bit bumpy on that front. And although I have great patience for some things, I have little for others. So fiddling around with film and trying to get that right, oh no, and blowing, you know, and losing the pictures and the express So when digital came along, digital cameras, I went, there, you go, there we go that. That's that's for me. That's when I fell in love with the taking pictures again and the fact that it was that instant gratification of knowing that you'd got something pretty much straight away. And then my job, my challenge to myself was how do I make digital pictures look like their film? That was something that I worked on for a number of years in trying to finesse digital photography to look like real film. How the realization of what I was doing was the right thing came along was I was part of a writ Hoop exhibition in Amsterdam of a number of British photographers, and I was cornered by this fine art critic from America, this older lady, and she'd cornered me from some time, and that I couldn't get out of the conversation. I was a bit shy anyway. At the end of it, she said to me, so, you know, tell me do you work with film or digital? And I went, you tell me. I realized at that point in time that I'd done it, you know, that I'd risen to that challenge. And so from that point on I just tried to do better and better and better and better. Each every time I'm doing photography work from now on is trying to finesse it that much more, that much more relatable, that much more focused. And again, doing the photography book and the exhibition really was a learning curve on how to be more focused and more precious about the work that you're delivering. How can you tell the same story of fifty images in five images? You know that kind of thing. It really helped me hone my craft more than before, having done the book and the exhibition, So that was a win win for me. That all that hard work. There was a I learned a lot from that.

Do you have a go to camera for those quick walks that you can, you know, just sort of have with you?

Just hate to say it. I hate to say it. You know, even well known photographers that I know that love their cameras admit that sometimes you just take a shot on your phone and the quality these days is almost not quite but almost as equal to a good camera. You know, you don't quite have the lens quality, or quite the depth of field, and many few other things, but certainly you can nab some pretty down good shots on your phone, and obviously the ease of just having it in your pocket, it just makes life a lot easier, I'm afraid to say, you know. I mean, they're so far ahead now that people are doing movies on their phones. You know, it's crazy, but leaps and bounds. Certainly things have come along leaps and bounds. But I still have a couple of go to cameras that I and I've said this before. You know, well, what's your favorite camera. Well, listen, it's not really the camera at the end of the day. It's not the hardware. It's what you see and what you get out of what you're trying to relate emotively and what the story is and the message. So the camera doesn't really matter at the end of the day. But certain cameras do certain things a little better than other cameras, but at the moment. And I've always been a fan of likers, you know, because there are classic cameras. I've done exhibitions around the world with these guys. I think I'm up to with Venice. I'm not to exhibition forty two in the last clean years or whatever. So I've been working. My favorite check it in my bag camera is, I have to say, as the like a Q three at the moment, which you can use on auto or manual, so it gives you the best of both worlds. And you know the quality the work. The quality is beautiful, you know, the pictures are gorgeous.

Who are some photographers you admire.

That's a difficult one because a lot of names I don't remember. I know that sounds terrible, but if I was to give you one, just one guy that has been a mainstay for me, Obviously, there's in Timothy White because he got me into this mess in the first place. Although you know, his his photography is more celebrity orientated and more fashion and celebrity and film orientated. He's still a tremendous, tremendous photographer. But you know, my kind of cup of tea there, I say, would be the likes of Elliott erwitt Ansel Adams, you know, the classics. I mean, there's some other great, great stuff out there. But you know, whenever I'm asked, who's what's your favorite? Who's your favorite? My mind goes blank. It's one of those what can I say it? It's you know, useless and bloody useless.

I don't think so. So I know your pals with the boys and you two and they had that run at that place in Las Vegas called the Sphere.

Yeah, yeah, I was there.

You were there.

So what's your impression of that experience.

It's a bit of a weird run, I have to say, because your attention is certainly drawn to the visuals because you're seeing little people that look like ants running around on this little stage down but you're taken in by the actual visuals of the experience. On one hand, I'm not sure what to make of it, and I'm not sure that is it worth having a live band there, because I think the reality is you're you're you're obviously you're listening to the experience, but it's more of a visual experience too, from at least my perspective and my you know, I just wanted to see this wrap around three D or you know this almost three sixty degree a screen, you know, where you're being drawn into this otherworldly experience. And yeah, it was nice having the band there, but I don't want to say they were insignificant, because that would be totally and wholly incorrect. But it was for me predominantly a visual draw at the end of the day than a lie band draw. You know, you could, for me, you could have just played the music from their albums and put the visuals on and it would have been no disrespect, but it would have been just as exciting in many respects. Not that there weren't a few moments, certainly with the live situation, but again I think it was This is very early days with this kind of setup and this technology, and I think it will only get better and improve even more as they honed down what it actually means to do a show like that there. I know that they're building smaller versions of the sphere, which may be more helpful for the band, so that there's still that relative relationship between the live music and the audience and you know, the expanse of some of the visuals, but with the sphere it's kind of ott, you know, it's writing, and I just think the live band scenario gets a little lost, but still still a bit jaw dropping, you know. But I you know, with with the with the band, like you two, they've always been at the forefront of unique stage presentation. So in many respects, I expected nothing less, you know, like, what did you think? I said, Well, I expected nothing less. That's what I expected. Yeah, yeah, I was blown away, but you know it was Yeah, I kind of expected it, which is a weird thing to say, but that's how I feeled.

You know.

Well, congratulations on life's fragile moments, which is going to make a great I would say stocking stuffer, but.

It's a little bit big, maybe in front sect, but it could be a stocking stuffer. It'll look nicely under under the tree.

And congratulations on it.

And I have to just tell you.

When I think of how grateful I am doing this podcast, this is one of those moments where I'm doubly grateful for doing this podcast for an opportunity.

To speak with you, Julian.

I appreciate everything about you and that you continue to give us. I'm so grateful and thank you for being on the Taking a Walk Podcast.

Thank you bus. It's been my absolute pleasure and I hope to see you sooner than later. Maybe on a walk one day.

I'd love it.

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