I exist
That's what makes a rock 'n' roll star
But not just a rock 'n' roll star-- that's what makes an individual
You have to say, "I exist," otherwise
My photography has always been about people
Even now, I'm still fascinated by people, different cultures
and it inspires me
It's always about people for me
I like to be in cities or in faces or countries which inspire me
Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the world
It's a wonderful place, it really is
This is a... I was a choirboy
I was one of these boys, and this is where I discovered photography
The first day I walked into a darkroom and saw a photograph being printed
I knew from that day, and I was nine
I knew that from that moment I wanted to be a photographer
And when I was leaving school, they said to me
"Don't be silly, there's no such thing as a black photographer"
Well, I admit, what I do remember one of the things he said to me
he said, "You know, Dennis. They're going to tell you
you can never do this or you can't do that
But as long as you believe in yourself, you can do what you want
Bob Marley, for me, was a very special person
I met him when I was 14
I walked up to him and said, "Can I take your picture?"
and he said, "Yeah, man. Come in"
And somewhere along the line, he said to me
he told me about the tour, and he said, "Would you like to come along?"
I said, "Yeah!"
There's a very famous picture
which is literally the first picture I'd taken
the way he's looking back in the van, and he said, "You ready, Dennis?"
and I went "click" and the adventure began
I had never come across a black man
with so much energy and confidence and... wow!
This man was like electric, you know
I actually wanted to be a war photographer-- that was my ambition
I wanted to go to Vietnam, but I was too young
The photographer who inspired me was a man called Tim Page
who used to be a rock photographer
He did some of the great pictures of The Doors
and I remember reading-- he said that when Jim Morrison died
he had to find another war
so he went to Vietnam
So when I started working with the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley
I found my war
We all wear a mask at what we present, you know, as our public image and such
And what I am able to do, I think, is I'm able to take away that mask
and let people reveal themselves
By doing that, I was able to capture all these iconic images
because people, when they look at the images
they could see that closeness
And I think once when you possess that, then your work becomes timeless
In 1994, these were taken
and they look like they were taken yesterday
A lot of other bands were influenced by the Sex Pistols' energy
and this legion of basically doing what you want to do
A true rock 'n' roll star, that's what they say
If you want to be a musician, then be a musician
The life of an artist is quite a lonely journey
because, you know, it's really-- it's in your head
what you visualize, you know
If you don't have that drive to take what's in your mind
and go off and do it, it'll never be done
It'll never be done, you know
I exist
That's what makes a rock 'n' roll star
But not just a rock 'n' roll star-- that's what makes an individual
You have to say, "I exist," otherwise
You're no one. You know that
But you have to say, "I exist"
and that's what he does, and he does it very well