Photographer Afshin Shahidi on collaborating with one of music’s most visionary talents.

“This is one of my favorites. Prince is a singular artist but is so dynamic and diverse in terms of his musical ability, dancing and what he means to the world—as an artist, as an advocate, as a disruptor. This was in England, another one of those pre-rehearsal moments. This is at The Dorchester,&nbsp;in his grand suite. I'm just poking around, not even thinking we're going to take any pictures because I know he's got to get going.&nbsp;
“I open the door and see this staircase. I went to him and said, ’You got to give me a chance to take a couple pictures of you.’ He lets me take literally two or three and starts walking. I'm like, ‘Hold on. I’m just figuring out the exposure.’ He says, ’I hope you got it, because that's all you get.’"

“This picture of Prince walking in New York City is special to me because it’s the day he was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also scheduled to play on the induction song for George Harrison. This was taken on the way to the rehearsal for the ceremony.
“I happened to be sitting outside of the hotel he was staying at, and he came down to get into his limo for the ride over. It was a beautiful day and I said, ’Would you consider walking with me to the Waldorf [where the ceremony was]?’ To my surprise he said, ‘Yeah.’”

“This is from the ‘Musicology’ tour in 2004. Photographing live events was usually not my favorite thing to do because there's not as much control. This was different though because there was this level of energy in the stadium that you really felt. It was electric. The energy of the crowd was amazing. What I like about this shot is that you see the whole arena. He's in the center, just him and his guitar, entertaining over 30,000 people.”

“This is at the Palace Hotel and reminds me of Prince’s restless creativity. So many times he's played his show, hung out with the band and talked about how the show went. The band's all gone to bed and he still has creative energy. We would sit, go through images and talk about how this could be this way or this could be that way.&nbsp;
“This night I was already in bed. It was like 2 AM. My phone rings, I answer it and it's Prince and he has that energy. I could sense it because he's like, ‘You up?’ I went over and did a photo session. Just me, him and some lamps I found in the room.&nbsp;
“No matter how tired I was, I got a lot of energy from him. Prince's eyes are very piercing [and sometimes I was able to] capture them in a way that almost feels like he's looking through the lens and even through me—and for 3 in the morning, who looks this great?”

“So much of collaboration is based on trust, a mutual understanding of what you want the outcome to be. I had that trust and he had a level of trust in me. This image is a reminder of that. We were in a limo and I see this alley behind a house in Chicago and I'm like, ‘That looks cool. Do you mind if we stop? Do you mind standing there?’&nbsp;
“Prince goes and stands in someone's backyard. I can only imagine what they would've thought if they looked out the window. Everyone was used to seeing Prince in a certain way, in a certain light. I wanted to show him in a different light. I think he appreciated it.”

The Legacy of Prince, Lensed by Afshin Shahidi

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