DAVID LACHAPELLE’S IG

BY: Ramona Duoba

From the mid-’90s to the mid-’00s, David LaChapelle was at his peak and drawing attention to his subjects’ hyper-real depiction. His work went beyond photography to include film and music videos with no expense spared for his high-end production values. His artistry and attention to detail attracted the A-listers of that time. He worked with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Britney Spears, and Leonardo DiCaprio. He shot Marilyn Manson as a crossing guard, and in 2006 he photographed Kanye West as Jesus Christ. His work is described as witty, ironic, stunning, and creative. Then, LaChapelle decided to leave it all behind and move to a farm in Hawaii. 

Now 57, LaChapelle has resurfaced to participate in a new calendar project produced by coffee maker Lavazza. The New Humanity 2021 features a calendar and magazine as part of a fundraising project supporting Save the Children. For the calendar, Lavazza reached out to 13 photographers to present a new vision of humanity that reflects their viewpoints and styles. LaChapelle’s image is a close-up of a nude woman partly shielded by a tropical flower.

“I wanted to show intimacy between the flower and her skin and the connection between human beings and nature,” LaChapelle explains in an interview with the Independent, “Sometimes living in cities can make you feel very disconnected from nature, and it’s easy to forget that we’re actually a part of it. Living off-grid for 15 years has taught me that we’re part of this huge ecosystem and our choices do matter.”

Earlier this year, Britney Spears fans banded together to send her 2016 album Glory to the top of the iTunes chart. Spears rewarded that dedication with a brand new album cover; reportedly, the image was from a scrapped David LaChapelle photo shoot. The revamped portrait shows Spears posing seductively in the sand, wearing a gold swimsuit. “Oh…my God. A new (original?) cover using the scrapped David LaChapelle photo shoot for @britneyspears’ #Glory is now inexplicably on Spotify,” said one Twitter user.

In 2018, LaChapelle shot the cover of Travis Scott’s Astroworld album. The exterior features a giant gold statue of Travis’ head made to match the Texas Cyclone ride at Astroworld of Houston, Texas. In January 2020, Lizzo graced Rolling Stone’s cover, and it was LaChapelle who created the image of the songstress as a floral goddess. Celebrity shoots are rare for LaChapelle, as he tells the Independent, “I love doing that kind of work,” he says. “But there’s just a shortage of artists. Look at the Seventies or the Eighties, and all the bands. There’s not even a band right now that everyone is [into]. Whereas in other times, we had, like, the rock band, whether it was Nirvana or Guns N’ Roses or Green Day. We don’t seem to have a lot of artists right now or music that’s inspiring. I think there’s been a creative drought.”

While LaChapelle is tucked away in a jungle on Maui working his organic farm, he is clearly inspired by his surroundings and still creates beautiful and powerful images. His Instagram, with more than 500-thousand followers, gives a glimpse into his present-day life. Through his vibrant and colorful imagination, he transcends his viewpoint and continues to captivate his audience, even from thousands of miles away.