Barron Claiborne

BIG-LG

simple, using subtle plays of depth, eyes, composition and focus to invoke something otherworldly in both his subjects and finished product. It’s not always easy.

There was R. Kelly, flaking on him for two days in Chicago before Claiborne threatened to leave. “He conveniently showed up in 15 minutes,” laughs the photographer. “It was pretty amazing.” Then there were the promo pictures for Hype Williams’ directorial debut, Belly, where he had to coax the movie’s stars—DMX, Nas and Method Man—into white suits with black ties and, for good measure, black suits with white ties. “Method Man was the hardest; it took, like, an hour and a half to talk him into it.” The Wu-Tang star also proved elusive on another solo shoot: “I did him smoking, because he wouldn’t do anything else. I was like, Might as well use it for the shot.”

One subject who never gave him issues was the Notorious B.I.G. “When you asked him to do a picture, he just did it. He never complained.” In the spring of 1997, Claiborne immortalized the King of New York in an endearing shot that has been bitten, jacked and licensed for exclusive tees. “Every time I thought of Biggie, I always thought of him as a big, fat West African King. That’s why I wanted to do him with the crown.” Sean “Diddy” Combs, B.I.G.’s label head, wasn’t so keen on the idea, muttering over Claiborne’s shoulder that his artist looked like “the Burger King.” “I had to listen to that all day,” recalls Claiborne. “It’s kind of sad, because he left my studio to go to the airport, to go out there where he got killed. It was two or three days before. He went to the airport from my place. I still have the crown, too.”

Born in Boston and taught photography by no one but himself, Barron Claiborne’s images engage parts of the brain and soul associated with myth. His brownscale portraits—one of his preferred methods—are deceptively simple, using subtle plays of depth, eyes, composition and focus to invoke something otherworldly in both his subjects and finished product. It’s not always easy.

There was R. Kelly, flaking on him for two days in Chicago before Claiborne threatened to leave. “He conveniently showed up in 15 minutes,” laughs the photographer. “It was pretty amazing.” Then there were the promo pictures for Hype Williams’ directorial debut, Belly, where he had to coax the movie’s stars—DMX, Nas and Method Man—into white suits with black ties and, for good measure, black suits with white ties. “Method Man was the hardest; it took, like, an hour and a half to talk him into it.” The Wu-Tang star also proved elusive on another solo shoot: “I did him smoking, because he wouldn’t do anything else. I was like, Might as well use it for the shot.”