PF: What work came out of that period?

DK: The David Johansen poster, the Hubert Laws poster, and others. I did mostly promotional posters for CBS Records.

PF: How long did that last?

"I photographed Bob Dylan at his home in Malibu last December for Spin. There are very few people I get excited about in the industry these days, and he is one of them".

DK: That went well for about two or three years. In the mid-seventies the record industry experienced a crunch and the budgets were cut and I was out in the cold. I made a big mistake that a lot of photographers make. I had one client who I really liked working for and I was making a lot of bucks, so why go out and look for other clients was my attitude. We were shooting two or three days a week, making good money, and then the budget fell apart.

PF: By that time, I imagine you had become well-known in the industry. What followed?

DK: I decided I wanted to do album covers for CBS. But there seemed to be a big rivalry between the art department that handled the album covers and the art department that handled the promotional posters. They had a big design department and artistically I liked what they were doing. I wanted to make that change to do album covers and it was difficult. It took time to get a new book together. A lot of photographers wanted to do album covers at that time. I decided as part of breaking into the field I would write and photograph an article on the top directors in the album cover community in New York. I planned to interview and photograph each one individually in my studio.

PF: How did you go about getting this together and having it published?

DK: I called four or five advertising trade magazines and asked them if they would be interested. The response was generally, "Put it together, it sounds great, we'll see what we can do." Even if some of the art directors didn't want to get involved they felt they should because they didn't want to be excluded from such an article. I focused on CBS because, as I said, I knew who they were, I had worked for them, and I admired what they were doing.

PF: How did it work out for you?

DK: Very well. I got an exceptional portrait of each art director I photographed, they were impressed, and within two months I was shooting album covers. And that's all I did for about two or three years. That, and a little editorial work for a couple of magazines. And then CBS Records had another crunch. I must be a very slow learner, because once again I put all my eggs in one basket. I was shooting a couple of album covers a week, having a ball doing it, photographing interesting people, so I didn't think I needed to give the time and energy to build up other clients.

PF: How much artistic freedom do you have with your clients?

DK: There are times when the art director will have a specific idea and know exactly what he or she wants. At other times, it will be left totally up to me. Sometimes the musicians I photograph are very involved in the photo sessions and have specific ideas and sketches of exactly what they want. There are also times when we just "play around" and let something develop during the shoot.

PF: You have photographed most of the top rock personalities and musicians. I would imagine some of them must be difficult to deal with.

DK: I find it's difficult dealing with anybody. It always amazes me that I am a people photographer, because I find in general, people are difficult to deal with. But I love to photograph people and I think it is because I am trying to understand them.

PF: I feel what photographers choose to photograph is a seeking out and attempting to understand themselves and others. It's a real opportunity to explore human nature.

DK: Yes, and, some of those musicians are real assholes! I just finished a shoot with someone I hate. There were pictures of him all over this studio and every once in a while I see the magazine with his picture on the cover, and it flips me out. I have to turn it over.