Prince: A Private View

Afshin Shahidi

He never put limitations on what I did

Born in Iran yet grew up in Minneapolis, Afshin Shahidi began his career aged 23 as an odd-jobber within the film industry. He jumped at the chance when approached to work as a film loader for a video shoot at Paisley Park in 1993. Although having no such experience, Shahidi stood out to Prince and soon struck up a level of trust and became Prince’s cinematographer. Following the resignation of Steve Parke in 2001, Shahidi became Prince’s personal photographer. Like Parke, Shahidi had only a passing interest in photography, yet nurtured their natural talent.

From 2001 to 2011, Shahidi was hired as Prince’s photographer – shooting everything from his passport photo, to album covers for One Nite Alone… Live!, Musicology, 3121 and Planet Earth, to capturing live shots on One Nite Alone… Tour of 2002, Musicology Tour 2004 as well as their tour books. Shahidi also captured the star-studded LA parties performed at Prince’s home 3121 Antelo Road throughout 2005 and early 2006, and in 2003 produced a photo book documenting Prince’s shows in Hawaii. Over a ten year period Shahidi was afforded unrivalled access to Prince and the shots published in his 2017 book Prince: A Private View which candidly captures Prince both on- and offstage.

His book, Prince: A Private View was published approaching the third anniversary of Prince’s death and comprises of some 250 photos from his personal archive – half of which have not been previously published. Each photo is accompanied with a caption telling the context behind it. It reveals heart-warming anecdotes of his time with Prince, for instance having to explain the meaning of the abbreviation LOL. The book also features a foreword contributed by Beyoncé Knowles, in which recalls her performance with Prince opening the 2004 Grammy Award Ceremony.

Synopses

Afshin Shahidi met Prince in 1993 as a member of the crew on a video shoot. Shahidi soon became Prince’s cinematographer and later one of the only people allowed to photograph him. He collaborated with Prince longer than any other photographer. Afshin was the only photographer allowed to shoot the legendary 3121 private parties in Los Angeles that became the most sought after invitations in Hollywood; some of those photos are included in this book.

Prince: A Private View compiles photographer Afshin Shahidi’s work into a journey through Prince’s extraordinary life. With never-before-seen photos, it is the ultimate collection of shots of Prince. Brief, but complete and rich, stories about Shahidi and Prince’s collaboration and time together are alternately incisive, personal, and even funny.

Data

Author

Afshin Shahidi

Publisher

St Martin's Press

Released

1 April 2019

Format

Hardback

ISBN

978-1250134431