For more than a decade, David Koppel pursued celebrities through the service entrances of the world’s most exclusive hotels and nightclubs. He slipped through windows, smuggled cameras past kitchens and even found himself involved in car chases, all in pursuit of stars caught at their least guarded.
Brando, Jagger, Sinatra, Bowie and Dylan all appeared in his photographs. Some were far from pleased. Jagger, Bowie and Dylan each lashed out at him, while Schwarzenegger kicked him in the shin and Koppel became embroiled in a struggle with one of Prince’s bodyguards.
The veteran paparazzo, however, holds no grudges. If anything, he believes those confrontations produced even more memorable pictures.
Yet when asked which image from his extensive archive makes him proudest, Koppel does not choose the photograph that is arguably his most famous: Joanna Lumley as Absolutely Fabulous‘ Patsy Stone, standing on the rooftop of New York’s Carnegie Hall Tower while simultaneously smoking a cigarette and taking a swig from a bottle of Stoli. Central Park sparkles far below. It is an iconic image.
Capturing it required considerable nerve. Koppel pretended to be a member of the film crew and hid behind an air-conditioning unit until everyone else arrived. After persuading security to allow him to remain, he had just 30 seconds to work: “Take a swig, take a puff, thank you.” Then it was over.
Although the photograph was taken in 1994, it continues to sell around the world. One print even hangs in the lobby of New York’s elegant Athenaeum Hotel.
Joanna Lumley as Patsy Stone on the rooftop of New York’s Carnegie Hall remains Koppel’s most successful photograph, although he captured it in seconds
Koppel also photographed runway shows, including one of Kate Moss’s early appearances for designer Bella Freud in 1993
Supermodels Elle Macpherson and Linda Evangelista leave London’s Ivy restaurant hand in hand in 1994
Koppel’s favorite photographs, though, are the ones that unfolded almost accidentally—moments created by equal measures of luck, nerve and sheer chutzpah.
DAVID BOWIE, LONDON, 1987
Among the work Koppel rates most highly is a sequence showing David Bowie pointing at him through a car window before leaning back and laughing.
“Bowie had happily posed for me, even giving instructions from the car, pointing at me through the open window before falling back and grinning his head off,” he recalled.
Koppel could not hear what Bowie was saying, but the singer was clearly amused, and the exchange was preserved in a series of photographs.
His next meeting with the Thin White Duke was considerably less cordial.
After following Bowie’s limousine to a London club where photographers were barred, Koppel slipped down a fire escape that led into the kitchen.
“I walked down the stairs wearing a long trench coat and moved through the kitchen at speed. I watched the chef watching me, turning his head at the same pace as I walked, without breaking rhythm as he calmly carried on chopping the vegetables.
“A spiral staircase took me up into the party, which was small and intimate. I picked up a drink from a waiter standing at the top of the stairs and pretended to be a guest.”
When Bowie’s minder briefly moved away, Koppel seized his opportunity. He opened his trench coat and produced his camera in one smooth movement.
Koppel photographed Tina Turner at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo in 1993
“Bowie had happily posed for me, even giving instructions from the car,” Koppel recalled
Koppel’s next encounter with Bowie was far less friendly, and the photographs did not survive
Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant at Le Palais de Festivals in Cannes in 1994
Koppel is drawn to photographs that happen almost by chance, combining luck with considerable chutzpah
“As I did, Bowie looked up, pointed at me and screamed, ‘NO!’”
“I froze, but instinctively began shooting on the motor drive… click, click, click, click, trrrr-rrrrrrrrrr.”
“The next thing I knew, Bowie was on the table, hovering over me and shouting, ‘You are SO rude.’ Then he walloped me around the head with his right fist.”
Koppel’s film was immediately taken from him, and he was thrown out of the party.
MARLON BRANDO, LONDON, 1992
Koppel had spent hours at Heathrow’s Concorde arrivals lounge waiting for Daryl Hannah, but the Splash actress never appeared. He and another photographer eventually went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant instead.
“I have always had a sixth sense for celebrities,” Koppel said. “When a small party of three entered, my antenna seemed to quiver.
“I said, ‘Don’t look behind you, but Marlon Brando has just walked in.’”
Brando had not been seen in public for years, yet Koppel was certain. “As if in a dream, the waitress brought Brando, his wife and child to the table beside us.”
The two photographers quickly paid, returned to their car for their cameras and waited outside with two girlfriends for Brando to finish eating.
“Anxiously, we watched cars pull up to see which one was carrying Marlon. The silver Mercedes… the gold Rolls-Royce.
“Then an ordinary white, four-door Ford hatchback minicab arrived, and the driver got out and waited. That can’t be it, surely! Yes, it can—and it was.”
Brando sat back in the car with his eyes closed, echoing a scene from On the Waterfront
Kate Moss walks in Stella McCartney’s graduation show in 1995
Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell attend the British Fashion Awards in 1993
When Brando spotted the photographers, he bizarrely seized his hat with both hands and pulled it down over his head. With his eyes tightly shut, he walked toward the waiting car.
“It was a scene straight from The Godfather, where Brando’s character is shot,” Koppel said. “He looked at us as if to say, ‘F**k!’”
“The driver and his wife guided him toward the white Ford minicab. With some effort, they squeezed his huge frame into the back seat. Brando dwarfed his tiny son beside him, almost crushing him as he was pushed inside.
“As soon as they had him seated, I opened the passenger door, climbed in, said, ‘Hi Marlon, welcome to London,’ fired six frames in two seconds and got out.
“Brando did not respond. He sat motionless, without expression, his eyes wide shut and his hands clasped. Unbeknown to him, my camera had captured a perfect frame: Brando in the back of the car, echoing the famous scene with Rod Steiger in On the Waterfront.”
Koppel particularly enjoyed the headlines that accompanied the published photographs: “Pile on Brando,” “The Godfatter” and Our News Outlet’s “The Wide One.”
MICHAEL HUTCHENCE, MONACO, 1994
Koppel regards his photograph of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence as the definitive rock ‘n’ roll image. Every essential ingredient is present.
The star is pictured at the height of his fame, holding both a drink and a lit cigarette while raising his middle finger at the photographer.
There is also an extra dose of rock-star glamour in the form of his beautiful model girlfriend, Helena Christensen.
Koppel believes that even a carefully staged studio session could never have produced such a convincing moment. Its power comes from the spontaneity.
PRINCE, LONDON, 1992
Koppel waited outside Tower Records for a chance to photograph Prince, who was surrounded by fans, minders, fellow photographers and police. The atmosphere was tense, and he knew he would have to act quickly.
He said: “As I raised the camera to take the picture, one of his hired hands reached out for no reason other than that he had decided to, placed a hand on my chest and pushed as hard as he could. Keeping it there, he pinned me against the boot of the Daimler.
“I managed to free the hand holding my camera and stretch it out as far as possible, firing several frames without knowing what had happened in those few seconds.
Uma Thurman, photographed by Koppel in Cannes in 1994
While waiting for Prince, Koppel was manhandled by the singer’s bodyguard and pinned against a car
Koppel considers this one of the most quintessential rock ‘n’ roll photographs ever taken
When Koppel asked to photograph Jagger with his brother, the Rolling Stone replied: “Nah, f**k off”
“The car sped away and the thug of a minder threw me to the ground. I did not yet realize that I had captured a perfectly composed image of Prince in a polka-dot suit, smiling and shaking hands just before entering his car.”
MICK JAGGER, LONDON, 1992
While photographing a Keith Richards solo concert, Koppel asked Mick Jagger whether he could take a picture of him with his brother, Chris.
“Nah, f**k off,” the Rolling Stones frontman replied.
Later, Jagger could not resist retaliating with a picture of his own.
“In defiance, he stuck out his tongue. As I continued shooting, he lifted his right hand over his left shoulder and swiped at me.
“I fell backward but kept taking photographs, capturing the instant he struck out.”
The next day’s headline read: “Thumping Jack Flash.”
PIERCE BROSNAN, MONTE CARLO, 1995
After spending a week photographing Pierce Brosnan on location for the Bond film GoldenEye—following an improbable tip from Ringo Starr—Koppel and the actor were friendly enough to use each other’s first names.
“Pierce was very relaxed about everything, posing for photographs and patiently allowing me to follow him around,” Koppel said.
On one occasion, Brosnan even playfully put Koppel in a headlock and ran down the street shouting: “I’ve got him, I’ve got him.”
Three years later, however, another meeting between the two would bring Koppel’s paparazzi career to an end.
After hearing that the Bond production had moved to Phuket, Koppel flew there. Following several false leads, he discovered the discreet entrance to the celebrity-favorite Amanpuri Hotel.
“On our final day, before heading home, I left the cameras at the hotel and went for a walk along the beach,” he said.
“Beyond a cluster of rocks, set back from the beach, was what appeared to be a small bar made from wicker and bamboo. We wandered in, finding only the barman there.”
Then came an extraordinary coincidence: Pierce Brosnan walked past the pool and down to the bar where Koppel was sitting with his girlfriend.
After a week photographing Pierce Brosnan during the filming of GoldenEye, Koppel and the actor were on friendly, first-name terms
George Michael and Boy George at London’s Limelight Club in 1986
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes in 1992
They chatted amiably, and Koppel bought Brosnan a whisky. Soon afterward, however, the conversation took a sharp turn.
“I introduced my girlfriend, and the three of us were chatting happily. Then, foolishly, I said, ‘We have actually met before, you know. In Monte Carlo, during the filming of GoldenEye. You may remember putting me in a headlock and running down the street with me.’”
“As soon as I said it, Brosnan exploded.
“‘What the f**k are you doing here? You’re just a f**king paparazzi scum.’”
“He walked off to join his girlfriend by the pool. She had arrived with their baby son.”
“Although Brosnan erupted,” Koppel added, “I noticed that he kept hold of the drink I had bought him.”
The encounter convinced Koppel to abandon paparazzi work for good. He has no regrets about those years, but there are only so many punches a person can absorb and so many fire escapes to climb before realizing that youth does not last forever.
The stories, however, remain unforgettable.
Spotlight: The Pictures That Made The Stories by David Koppel is published this month.
