For the 10th Anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Invincible album back in 2011, I wanted to speak with the photographer of the album’s cover, Albert Watson. Having photographed a series of A-list entertainers, over 150 magazine covers and countless high-fashion campaigns, I thought my chances were slim. However, not only was Watson completely open to talking about photographing Michael, he was extremely down-to-earth, warm and engaging.
In honour of the 20th Anniversary of the Invincible album on 30th October 2021, I went back to find the transcripts for this unique interview to share exclusively online here for the first time.
How were you initially approached to do the Invincible album cover shoot?
Well, in the very beginning, I was to photograph him in Tokyo for Blood on the Dance Floor. I went all the way to Tokyo, but when I got there and we prepared everything in the studio, he was sick, he had a bad cold, and he couldn’t do the shooting. So, I came back, and they ended up using an illustration. So, I didn’t do the photograph for it.
What happened next?
Sometime later he called me and said he was sorry about Tokyo, but he would like me to do the next cover and could I meet him in 2 weeks in the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. I went to meet him, and we had a drink together. When I say drink, we had water together, not an alcoholic drink and he was very very nice, charming. I always remember what a strong handshake he had, you know, very definite and he was also very definite about the shooting – but he wanted to give me complete freedom. He said, “You are the artist so you have complete freedom” and I said, “I have this idea with mirrors and I think it will be nice…I’ll give you a dance floor, I’ll give you a pole in the middle of the dance floor almost like a stripper pole, and you can use that” and he said that sounded great.
I then did a portrait of him, and he danced for about 20 minutes straight – which is a long time actually! I photographed him dancing and he was super professional. He picked up an outfit and ask if I liked it. It was really good.
So, he chose his own outfit?
The answer to that is yes and no. He chose 3 or 4 outfits and he asked me to pick one. So pick 4 and I picked one of the 4.
What was the purpose of the mirrors? Did you try to re-create your famous Jack Nicholson photo?
It was after that. He had seen that shot and liked it and I suggested we do full-length images as the mirror is very nice to fragment him and to make the shooting more artistic which he loved. He said the more artistic the better.
How was Michael on the day of the shoot?
He was very nice. Due to arrive at 10 in the morning, he arrived at 10.15 so he was “on time”, and he just drove the car right into my studio, we closed the door behind him and then he was in makeup for an hour with his makeup artist and hairdresser and then we discussed the clothes. First of all, I did the portrait. One portrait and then I did dance shots afterwards. He was terrific. He was super professional, super-nice, super friendly and very polite with everybody and he thanked everybody after the shooting. He was absolutely a delight. The next day he came back, and we did a second portrait. He wanted to do another idea, so I did a second portrait on the second day.
So which portrait did you use for the cover?
He used the 2nd-day portrait for the cover, and he also used a second one from the first day.
Will we see these shots ever?
Possibly in the future, we will use them for something. Technically it belongs to the Estate. Actually, it belongs to Sony. But we agreed in the contract that we will have artistic control of the pictures to use for books and exhibitions.
Are you planning to do a book or exhibition from the pictures?
Well, no, it will always be part of when I do, for example, a retrospective exhibition, then that shot is in the retrospective.
That’s great! I hope we can see the other shots because some of them were released online, I don’t know if you were aware of this?
Yes.
There are a lot of pictures from this session, how many pictures did you take?
I think there were about 200 of the dance pictures and of the portrait much less, 20 of the portraits.
Did you have a say in the pictures used for “Invincible” or did Michael or Sony choose them?
It was a combination. They took my recommendations.
Have you got any favourites from the sets?
No. The whole experience was really good. He was so professional. What Michael liked is that, if people were very professional, well organised and together, then he appreciated that.
But would you have chosen that picture to do the cover of the album?
It was his choice and I think at the beginning it was always going to be the idea of a portrait for the cover with different colours and different tones and then pictures on the inside. That was the basic idea of the shooting.
What was the idea for “Blood on the dance floor”?
For “Blood on the dance floor”, we had made a special dance floor and I was going to shoot him from above on the dance floor and from low down. So, in that one, the dance floor was going to be very dominant and then in the other one was going to be very much a little piece of the dance floor but with him against white. That was the idea for that, but he was ill, he couldn’t do it and he asked me to stay for a week but I couldn’t as I had other shootings.
If Michael was still alive and you had the opportunity to photograph him one more time, how, where and in what context would you like to do it?
I would probably like to do, I spoke to him briefly about possibly doing a shoot on the street because he was so always protected and so on but I said there was definitely an area where to do something on the street level, very rough, very industrial area and he liked the idea. We spoke about that as a possible idea for Invincible, but in the end, he preferred the idea of the mirrors. But I would still like to have done that in a nighttime setting street, a little bit more like when he did the night stuff in “Thriller”.
Did you have a city in mind?
Oh! I think it would have been good to do Brooklyn or a place like that, very American. Then the other thing I spoke to him briefly about was the possibility to do it in a desert. But logistically it was very difficult. He was in New York. He was finishing the album, so it had to be in New York.
Obviously, you are working with a lot of celebrities around the world. Which one did you enjoy working with the most?
Michael was certainly up there. I photographed Jack Nicholson many times, Clint Eastwood, a lot of rappers, 50 Cent I like very much. I work a lot for Rolling Stone magazine. But a lot of people are nice. I very rarely have difficulties with anybody. I think we are always so organised and we do the shooting for them. We really do the shooting for them meaning everything is for them, the music they like, the food they like, the ambience they like. It’s very organized and celebrities appreciate that.
© Pez Jax 2021
This Interview is not to be replicated, quoted or translated in whole or in part without permission.
