THE MIGHTY NILE

I am not known for my love of Disco and quite frankly legends are often not what they appear to be. What it takes to be legend in your own lifetime is single-mindedness and belief in your own ability that mixed with critical acclaim can create a monster of ego that is the enemy of good photography. For me the two most important things for portrait photography is time and the character of your subject. I could wax lyrical about eyes being the windows to the soul but the truth is you are just trying capture a piece of who they are on camera but when you are their lowest priority and that bit character is buried deep below their projected public image, it just does not work.

Anyway I digress, these are the expectations I had going in to shoot with Nile Rodgers legendary producer and king of Disco for over 4 decades. As he walked on stage holding a Nikon SLR and a huge grin I began to understand that this would be a different kind of legend altogether. Throughout an almost 2 hour set he created a party out of nowhere, his love for life exuded from every pore. He made every fan part of what he was doing, when most bands scream "this is best concert ever" the insincerity is not hard to detect, but without a word it was obvious Nile was loving being there. My music taste could not be any more different from Disco, but it just did not matter, his enthusiasm for the music became yours, so for 2 hours I was Disco Dave before heading back to the dark. 

He was every bit as gracious of the stage as he was on, talking to all his fans, a large grin on his face and time for everyone. So when asked for his portrait on the way out of the room he stopped, stood to the side smiled at me like a friend and let me take his picture. He stopped only to play air guitar as a riff caught his notice from a track playing on the PA, he had given me his time and his character. 

He is a rare individual, a true gent and a living legend.