David LaChapelle’s photography career started in the fine arts, then went commercial, then became non-existent, and is now both fine art and commercial. Nothing better than a full circle.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1963, David ran away from home at the age of 15. He went to be a busboy at Studio 54 and by the time he was 17, he had been discovered by Andy Warhol. He started working for Interview magazine, where he began to develop his “over-the-top Pop”style. From there, he photographed all of the greats during that time – Tupac Shakur, Madonna, Lance Armstrong, Pamela Anderson, Lady Gaga, Whitney Houston, Jay Z, Elizabeth Taylor, David Beckham, Jeff Koons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hillary Clinton, Muhummad Ali, and Angelina Jolie. And that’s just the beginning. He even started doing music videos for people like Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, and Elton John. But this time was not devoid of hardship. For years, Chapelle, who had come to prominence during the AIDS Epidemic in New York, and whose boyfriend died of AIDS, was convinced that he had it and was going to die any day. For 15 years he didn’t get tested, but when he did, he found that he was HIV negative. But he still just wasn’t feeling it anymore and one day he just hung up on Madonna and that was it. He said that “[he] love[d] glamour and fashion and beauty – that has been with civilizations for ever, but [he] needed to get away from the propaganda of that. When [he] quit everything, [he] never wanted to shoot another pop star as long as [he] lived, [he] was tortured by them.” At this point he had also directed a movie called Rize about dancing in South Central LA that flopped, he had worked 14 hours days for 20 years, with no vacation time, and his health and happiness meter were approaching empty. So he escaped.

He bought a few acres of land on an old nudist colony (that is a nudist colony that is no longer in use, not a nudist colony for old people) in Maui where he retired to be a farmer. In terms of lifestyle, this could not be any different. He was a hermit for a while until a German gallery reached out, wanting to exhibit his work, a dream of his since forever. He agreed, which led to meeting and shooting Lady Gaga, which led to doing the Kardashian Kristmas Kard in 2013. He claims to only do things that interest him but wowza does he work in polarities. This makes sense because he is actually bipolar, a condition which he treats with a vegetarian diet, adequate exercise, and sleep through Maui farm life.

Despite his having left the scene, you can still see LaChapelle’s work everywhere. “Beyoncé’s Instagrammed pregnancy was glossily LaChapellian (the photographer was one of his former interns); the high street’s preoccupation with the dazzle of unicorns, mermaids, rainbows and hyper-saturated colour echo LaChapelle; the very existence of the Kardashians is LaChapelle’s subversion of high trash come full circle.” He has changed photography forever and for that he has earned the title of “Grandpa Moses of photography.”