David Bailey: You Ask The Questions

Have you abandoned your roots? And do you ever regret turning down the chance to photograph Picasso?

Born in 1938, David Bailey was the fashion world's first celebrity photographer. A child of the Blitz in east London, he joined the RAF in 1956, exercising his love of photography in the Far East. A job at Vogue in 1960 allowed him access to London's rakish elite and to become the equal of the celebrities he photographed. Since the Sixties he has directed three films, many television adverts and music videos. He has been married to Catherine Dyer for 20 years. They have three children, Paloma, 20, Fenton, 19, and Sascha, 11.

Is digital photography producing a generation of lazy photographers, or is it freeing creative minds?
STEVE BROUGHTON, LONDON

It's not much different from when the Box Brownie camera came out in 1900. They said then that it was the end of photography and they were wrong. Digital cameras make photography easier but they also make it less good because you don't have to think. I don't know if people are getting lazier - real photographers can't be lazy - but it's great for the average person that photography is more accessible.

Do you ever regret turning down the chance to photograph Pablo Picasso?
MARY LOUISE BELL, EDINBURGH

Yes and no. It's one of those things: it's always great to have something you can't get. I could've done him twice, but he was such an icon and such a hero of mine, because he changed my life, that I decided not to. I'm sad I didn't, but in a way I'm glad because it keeps the myth alive. It's the same with Castro. I say I'd like to use him because I know I'd never get him. It's the idea of it rather than the reality.

Do you have any advice for photographing children?
LOUISA SANDERSON, VIA E-MAIL

You have to kind of be invisible when you photograph children, so you use a longer lens. It's much easier to photograph your own children. If you photograph other people's you might get arrested!

Does your photography reflect your nationality?
ROLAND GOPAL-CHOWDRY, VIA EMAIL

Photography is so international that it's hard to pin it down. I don't think my work does reflect my nationality - I don't like the idea of nationalism. I like the idea Banksy had: "People who enjoy waving flags don't deserve to have one."

You fought hard against class prejudice to become successful, but then became part of a fashionable élite - do you ever feel as if you have abandoned your roots?
EDWARD RAFFERTY, BELFAST

No. The class thing is always made more of in the press; they want to emphasise my working-class roots. People always want you to be what they think you are, it's that working-class hero crap. I don't think it matters where I came from any more.

Were you shocked by any of the people who posed for your "Democracy" collection [when Bailey shot "ordinary" people]? Are you shocked by anything?
ANNABELLE ANTONIERI, LONDON

I'm never shocked, I'm not the shockable type! My wife said she thought Democracy was the most boring book but that she couldn't stop looking at it. It causes such intrigue - even the man with piercings in his scrotum: was like a piece of living art: it's too extreme for you to be shocked, almost.

Do you feel a great nostalgia for the Sixties?
KATE RICHARDSON, MANCHESTER

I've got no nostalgia, I live in the present. The Sixties were only great for a few people in London, not so great if you were a miner in the Rhondda. People like nostalgia because they feel safe; they can concentrate on where they've been, not where they're going.

When you say people have a "nervous respect" for your camera, do you mean they have a nervous respect for you? Aren't you and your camera the same thing?
THOMAS TROY, ROCHDALE

People react differently to different cameras. The 10in x 8in camera is so imposing it's a bit like a cathedral, whereas a 35mm is a bit like a nightclub. You see more of the person with a 10x8 than you do with a small camera because then you have a camera in front of your face and you don't confront the person.

But with a 5x4 or a 10x8 you're talking to the person - it's more personal, more confrontational, and it gets a different reaction from the subject. It's nothing to do with respect, it's just a different reaction.

What attracted you to the idea of photographing the Kray twins?
SHAUN GODDARD, LONDON

I'm never moralistic about who I take pictures of. They were there so I took their pictures. As a social document it was worth doing. I'd photograph Stalin or Hitler - doesn't mean that I like them.

Do you take pictures of genitalia and nakedness to try to shock the British into a more liberated sexuality?
KARL WEAVER, MANCHESTER

I never think about silly things like that. It's just a picture, they're just naked, everybody's got to be naked some time in their life! I had the idea in the Seventies but I didn't know how to do it then. I didn't want to impose any laws on the subjects, I wanted it to be a kind of social document, I suppose. Desmond Morris's introduction to Democracy understood it: nakedness democratises everybody because nobody is different, nobody is wearing Yves Saint Laurent or Burberry. Everyone's wearing the same thing: nothing.

David Bailey's Democracy, published by Thames & Hudson, is out now, priced £30