“Hello David, I’m Matt”

American Idol had ended, his first album was out, and David was the talk of the town. He had just returned home to Utah from performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and was late to the shoot because he had to lose a van full of girls who were following him. We turned a neighbor’s garage into a make-shift studio and David was on high alert anytime a car passed by. It was a grey November afternoon. I was nervous/excited. These are just a few things I remember from this first time meeting and working with David. I was fortunate to work with him again a number of times after — from assisting on his second album cover to shooting images for magazines and an overseas album.

Black tie affair

I had picked up the shirt and pants at Target. I thought it would be fun to dress him up but keep it youthful with the Chuck Taylor’s — which were his own. I’ll never forget trying to get my assistant, Lindsay’s, attention, while I tied the tie on David. I was trying to get her to take a behind-the-scenes picture but she wasn’t catching on. After a few failed “read my mind through my eyes” glances at her, David finally turned and said “He want’s you to get a picture of this.”

So much for being discrete.

You can view and read more from my original post in 2009 here.

Photographed November 2008