Dear Mark Eitzel

I suppose that it’s a reasonable assumption that over a long career a portrait photographer would become friends with many of his subjects but it’s actually been quite rare for me. A wonderful exception is Mark Eitzel.

I had been obsessed with his band American Music Club, and got to see them play live when they toured their fantastic album San Francisco in 1994. Three years later I was commissioned by his record company to shoot PR photographs for him, and on that day our friendship began.

Early on he told me not to expect much from him, with his busy life touring and making music he certainly wouldn’t remember my birthday, or even be a particularly good friend. But despite his cynicism and self-deprecation (his publishing company was called “I Failed In Life Music”) he has turned out to be a loyal and dear friend. Funny, complex, provocative, and surprisingly sentimental, Mark Eitzel is a rare and special man. I thoroughly enjoy our time together and miss him when we’re apart.

Mark is currently touring his great new album, Don’t Be A Stranger, in Spain and will move onto Ireland and the U.K. towards the end of this month.

Top Image: Mark Eitzel, from our first sitting, and the day that our friendship began, September 7, 1997.

Middle Image: I’m sure that there is a story behind this photo of us together.

Bottom Image: Mark Eitzel & the Virgin, photographed for my exhibition at the Other Music Record store in 2002.