Bleach Portrait of Bebe Buell, Tribeca Film Festival, April 2008

This is the second in a series of bleach portraits I call “Overexposed.”

Bleach portraits happen almost exclusively at major events with a red carpet, and they are often discarded by photographers as unusuable.  At large film festivals, premieres and awards shows there are sometimes hundreds of photographers.  When a celebrity poses, there are moments when so many flashbulbs are popping at once that the subject becomes completely bleached out.

I never deleted mine because I found powerful symbology in multiple metaphors that the images represent.

It is not a setting on the camera; it is not Photoshop (at all); it is just capturing a moment where there is blinding light produced from multiple flashes.  If you click on the photo above, you will see the portrait produced for her Wikipedia article that was taken just moments after this one, with all the same camera settings.

Buell, photographed at the premiere of Squeezebox!, has led an interesting life.  She is the mother of Liv Tyler, and Cameron Crowe said he partly based the character “Penny Lane” in Almost Famous on her.  She was a model and singer, but what made her name was the long list of major rock stars she has dated.*  Among them, Rod Stewart, Elvis Costello, Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler (father to Liv).  She was also involved with the late Stiv Bators and actor Jack Nicholson.

Did you know she told her daughter Liv for years that her then-stepfather, Todd Rundgren, was her real father?  Liv figured out the truth for herself when she saw how much she resembled Steve Tyler and her half-sister Mia.  And did you know she claims Coyote Shivers abused her?  She is not the only one.

She is married to musician Jim Wallerstein of Das Damen and Vacationland

Click on the bleach portrait above to see her Wikipedia portrait.

Overexposed: Bleach Portraits
(click above for a complete list)

• Steve Martin

*All information regarding Buell’s past comes from her Wikipedia article; should it be inaccurate, feel free to let me know and I will see if there is something I can do to fix it.

Possibly related posts

• Bebe Buell: five questions (2)
• Farrelly Brothers photos with Chris Cooper, Luis Tiant and Larry David for Lost Son of Havana (1)
• Andy Garcia and Mickey Rourke – photos at the Tribeca Film Festival (2)
• Julie Chen, Les Moonves, Jonathan Tisch and Lizzie Tisch – businessmen and their wives receive new portraits (0)
• New Wikipedia portraits of Aidan Quinn, Campbell Scott and Christian Parenti (3)