Californian music photographer Chris Cuffaro has witnessed rock music history, photographing the likes of Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and now he’s turning the camera on New Zealand’s best musicians.
The 62-year-old celebrity photographer visited Aotearoa in February, where he showcased his Greatest Hits exhibition, a presentation of his best work over the last half a century.
While he was in New Zealand, he shot several of our own musicians – including Fat Freddy’s Drop, Boh Runga and Tiki Taane – for an exhibition launching on May 1, the beginning of New Zealand Music Month.
Cuffaro’s work will finally be revealed to the public via a digital display at Auckland Central Library, the Ellen Melville Centre and Aotea Square.
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The physical copies of pictures will be on display from May 25 to June 4 at Art News Aotearoa, in the Auckland CBD.
The photos will eventually be auctioned off by Webb’s, with all proceeds going to MusicHelps, a charity which uses “the power of music to change the lives of thousands of New Zealanders in need”.
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Los Angeles based photographer Chris Cuffaro started his career when he was 12.
Chris Cuffaro/Supplied
Celebrity photographer Chris Cuffaro photographed some of New Zealand’s best musical talent back in February.
Cuffaro grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, an area with great significance to the music and photography scene, with bands like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane calling it home.
He caught the photography bug at 10, and was taken under the wing of a photography teacher at the age of 12.
“I was shooting models when I was 12. Can you imagine, you’re 18 and some 12-year-old boy is saying, ‘Hey can I shoot your pictures?’” Cuffaro laughed.
Cuffaro made the move to Los Angeles when he was 21, and got a job at a black and white lab.
Chris Cuffaro/Supplied
Photographs of Kiwi musicians will be displayed around Auckland from May 1.
LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff
Chris Cuffaro held his Greatest Hits exhibition to Auckland in February.
“My boss – who is still my best friend to this day – said to me, ‘It’s not what you shoot, it’s who you shoot,’” he said.
“It’s true, no one comes in here and says, I love your lighting, your composition, what camera is that? I was in LA in the 1980s, it was the entertainment capital of the world.”
Soon Cuffaro was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Annie Leibovitz, and Bruce Weber, picking up snippets of advice and wisdom while processing their photos at his lab.
“When I moved to LA, there were 10 photographers. I laugh at my young photographer friends who go to a pit at a concert and there are 50 people. Back in my day, there was me,” he said.
LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff
Cuffaro said the most important thing to him about his photos is that they make someone smile.
The business of photography has changed significantly over the past 50 years, with social media allowing punters to do whatever they want with his photographs.
”I go on eBay and I see people making duvet covers out of my work. It used to really bother me, but I’ve just had to let it go,” he said.
A full list of where to find Cuffaro’s work in Auckland is available on his website.
