Le 15 Décembre 2009
C'est à 17 ans, en 1975, que Brad Elterman commence sa carrière de paparazzo à Los Angeles. Contrairement aux clichés plats et voyeurs d'aujourd'hui, les photos volées d'Elterman font transparaître l'âme des personnalités qu'il traque.
Il raconte qu'à cette époque, en pleine période Glam, il était relativement facile de prendre David Bowie en postures choquantes dans son personnage d'Aladdin Sane. Et c'est vrai qu'on en a vu des floppées (dont celles de Mick Rock qui comptent parmi les plus belles). Elterman, lui, préfère s'intéresser aux décors hors-contexte, aux endroits non convenus et aux situations non consenties. Bowie dans une rue quelconque de L.A avec la casquette, la cigarette en bouche cherchant le démarreur de sa Mercedes sale à l'étoile tordue, voilà le vrai inattendu.
" In 1975, I was a Teenage Paparazzo. This was my first Paparazzi photograph, but I would never consider myself a true Paparazzo. I wanted to take photos of David Bowie while he was in L.A. Bowie was such a provocative figure back then and every move he made was controlled by his management and PR. That was really something back then, because there was very little control between the media and the talent. On the day that I took this photograph of David Bowie I had a tip that he was was having a late night recording session at Cherokee Recording Studios on Fairfax Blvd in Hollywood. I got there really early in the morning and waited for Bowie to emerge. The guy seated in the car next to Bowie is Man Who Fell To Earth producer, Paul Buckmaster. Keep in mind that no one was really doing Paparazzi style photography back then and both Bowie and Buckmaster thought my approach was incredibly hysterical".