Freddie Mercury, Queen, 1978

It is very sad when someone you have photographed many times dies. A bond develops between subject and photographer that is built on trust. A subject, especially a celebrity whose livelihood depends to some degree on his or her appearance, must be comfortable enough to be spontaneous in front of a photographer. Any person captured at the wrong moment can look awful. That's why paparazzi are the bane of photographers who shoot on assignment. Paparazzi are all about catching celebrity subjects at their most awkward poses or in the most scandalous situations; and that adversarial relationship begins to overlap onto all photographers.Freddie Mercury was a performer who absolutely trusted his audience and his photographers. He was an absolute diva about his appearance but not to the point where it affected his performance. He was one of the greatest showman that ever stepped on stage, and I must have shot the group Queen six times. Each time, no matter how similar the music set, the show wasalways different. Freddie was a colorful performer, but I wanted to capture the person himself, so I used B&W and color, my way of saying that the person was greater than his show. With color you tend to lose sight of the subject and see the environment but with B&W you focus on the tree rather than the forest. Color won out this time. -- Richard E. Aaron

Ektachrome 320 ASA 1/125sec. f/2.8 50mm lens. Available light.