PHOTO ESSAY

Northern Exposures

Lovers of Canadian photography get Carte Blanche

By Alec Scott

April 20, 2006

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Rick Rubin. Photograph by Bryce Duffy.

If some photograph average people, others make their (often considerable livings) selling images of people we think we know well – i.e. celebrities. Born and bred in Prince George, B.C., Bryce Duffy was studying in Ryerson University’s well-regarded photography program in the early ’90s when the Globe and Mail asked him to shoot former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Says Duffy, “My first assignment for them, trial by fire.”

“During the session,” Duffy recalls, “the takes were fine, decent lighting, decent set-up, but something wasn’t there.” Just as the shoot was ending, Thatcher turned to her publicist and barked orders at her. “Thatcher was looking off to the side with this very imperious expression on her face, and I thought that’s it, the Iron Lady.”

Now based in Los Angeles, Duffy has gone on to shoot celebrities – like music producer Rick Rubin, shown here – for such publications as Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. Esquire magazine describes Rubin as often hiding behind “a mysterious bearded shaman shtick,” and this shot evokes that carefully crafted persona.