David Lachapelle Biography
David LaChapelle (Fairfield, March 11, 1963) is an American photographer and director. He is active in the fields of fashion, advertising and, in a broader sense, art photography. Known for his surreal and often caricatural style, he also produced male nude photos. LaChapelle attended the "North Carolina School of the Arts" and later the "School of the Arts" in New York. After a quick stint in the marines, a wedding in London, David returns to New York working as a photographer. It was Andy Warhol who offered LaChapelle his first professional photographic assignment for Interview magazine. He also works for magazine covers and photo shoots, including Vanity Fair, GQ, Vogue, The Face, Arena Homme and Rolling Stone. The first photographic book, entitled LaChapelle Land, allowed the photographer to make his style known: photographs with very bright colours, sometimes dreamlike, sometimes bizarre. The next Hotel LaChapelle contains several celebrity shots. Both Artists and Prostitutes (in a limited edition, sold for 1500 dollars a piece, with the artist's autograph) and Heaven to Hell were highly appreciated by the public. His photos are described as baroque, even excessive, characterized by the usual strong irony. Having started directing music videos, in 2005 he finally directed the documentary Rize, which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. The work, filmed in the outskirts of Los Angeles, illustrates the new forms of dance (including Krumping) that exploded in the black ghettos of the city.
