Despite the pervasiveness of his vision, Frank remains one of the most humble and approachable artists I’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing. We caught up at Sydney’s Black Eye Gallery, the day after he delivered a talk to a sold out crowd of eager strangers. As a young father darted across the gallery floor to cover his toddler’s eyes before she reached an image of a bare-assed woman, perched on all fours, we spoke about his years photographing Bowie, his ever-growing collection of cameras and the nature of celebrity.

Can you tell us a little about your life as a young person?

I was a horrendous student. I failed everything and had absolutely no focus. Then one day I just started taking photos and my mother was so supportive - she assembled a dark room in our basement and even though she was a single parent, whatever money she could find would go toward helping me get film. It was a really good, loving upbringing despite the fact that I would only see my dad about twice a year.  It was strange to have that kind of support at home, because taking photographs wasn’t something people really did in my town. I remember entering a photo competition and winning most of the prizes because no one else had entered (laughs).

Who were your visual inspirations growing up?

I was a big Duane Michals fan - I liked how he’d draw and write on his photos. He was definitely a big influence on my work with my journals. I also loved the portraiture of David Bailey; just the starkness of his work and his playfulness with warm light. He would do these environmental portraits which I loved. He’d just go out on the street and take people’s portraits with natural light, which is something I love to do too.

As I got older, suddenly photographers weren’t as exciting to me and it became all about art. It could be a Richard Serra sculpture or Francis Bacon painting that inspired me.  I’ve always enjoyed work that is somehow flawed. When I see things that aren’t defective in some way I usually think they’re kind of boring.
How many cameras do you have? I’m just imagining like shelf after shelf of cameras…Oh my god, all of my shelves and now even my drawers are full! It’s ridiculous! I’ll be in Nashville or somewhere shooting an album cover, and I’ll fall into some camera store and buy a random one just knowing I can put film into it and spend the rest of my day in the hotel room playing around with the shutter. Then I might never use it again.

A friend of mine in New York used to own a camera store and he’d adapt them for me. I’d tell him what I was trying to do and he’d custom make them for me, depending on the ideas I’d have for a shoot. It was always about breaking the rules of what you were supposed to do with photography.