Superstar Guitars is an incredibly stylish slipcased hardback edition, packed with photography of iconic guitars belonging to the world's most legendary musicians.
We spoke with Eleanor Jane about her photography career, the art of depicting the world's most legendary guitars, and memorable stories behind the photographs in this book.
First of all, could you tell us a little bit about yourself, and how you got started in photography?
Eleanor Jane: I’m a photographer and writer in the music industry with an unusual niche in vintage and culturally significant guitars, but I also photograph creative artist portraits too.
I started my photography career at age seven, photographing my Barbie dolls in a variety of elaborate dramatic scenes using a series of clunky old 110 film cameras, including one extremely primitive British Gas branded model which came free with the gas bill! I remember being so excited to get my first roll of film back and being devastated that only one image came out. Thankfully I have much improved since then!
How did you get into your niche of photographing guitars?
After leaving university with a degree in Photographic Art, I immediately began working as a freelance photographer, undertaking all sorts of commercial work to supplement my creative practise.
I was shooting band portraiture for music magazines, including several guitar mags, and this would involve a lot of behind-the-scenes “rig tours”. A journalist and I would go along to a gig early in the day, not long after the tour bus would roll into town, and we’d spend a few hours on a photoshoot and interview with either the artist or their guitar tech, going through their equipment for the tour. I’d take portraits backstage in addition to photographing the guitars, which was very fly-on-the-wall in style and not really the main focus.
Then one day I received an email from the biggest guitar magazine in the world, Guitar World, seeking a photographer for a shoot in London. They booked me to photograph Rory Gallagher’s famous beaten-up Stratocaster for a pull-out poster in the magazine and must have been happy with the results because, after that, the guitar work kept coming.
Is there an art or discipline to photographing guitars that you learnt through this?
I think the first thing I wondered when I received the Rory Gallagher commission – which seems to be the main concern people have whenever it comes to photographing guitars – is how on earth to deal with the reflections. I had some past experience of product photography, but with so many curves and metallic parts on guitars, it was a whole new world. I had to figure it out for myself, but once I did, everything fell into place.
I don’t know how to explain it, but I find the whole process quite therapeutic. All I have to do is find a way to bring out the best in the guitar and highlight the textural nature of the wear and tear that help tell the instrument’s story.
I’m usually sat on the floor backstage, in a recording studio or someone’s private music room, working with as minimal a kit as possible. I enjoy the process. It’s quite zen, which I suppose is helpful when someone hands me a guitar that’s worth more than my house!
The instruments featured in Superstar Guitars are owned by a truly incredible range of artists. Were there any personal icons you met on your travels? What was that like?
I always try to treat everyone exactly the same and, thankfully, I’ve been working in this world for a long enough now that I don’t really get starstruck. In fact, I feel like we’re all part of the same team. But I have been lucky to experience some lovely moments with extremely talented and creative people whose work I admire.
While shooting the cover guitar at the Foo Fighters’ studio complex in Los Angeles, Dave Grohl popped down to see what I was working on and we had a chat, during which he talked me through how he approaches playing the guitar as though it was a drum kit, how each string represents a drum or a cymbal – that was fascinating.
I also had a really fun moment photographing Jack White in an bright yellow brick corridor at Third Man Records in Nashville. He was noodling on the guitar during the shoot when he suddenly came up with an idea he liked. He rushed to his tech and they quickly recorded it on a voice note before returning to the shoot. It was fun to be a part of that moment. He’s a creative powerhouse, which I find very inspirational, and his team are all so kind.
Finally, working upstairs in the Manic Street Preachers’ riverside studio while James Dean Bradfield rehearsed loudly downstairs was the perfect full circle moment for me. In my early years as a photography student, I used to listen to Manics cassette tapes on my bus journey to and from college. In those days, this world seemed so big and distant, but now here I am.