Q&A

Dubliner Tony Kelly, a one-time war photographer who turned to fashion, and now shoots for Vanity Fair, Playboy, Justin Bieber and others. He talks to EOIN BUTLER

What was the first photograph you ever had published? I took a picture when I was 17 of a kid who fell off a bridge in Phibsboro on to the train tracks. It was a 60 or 60 foot drop. The fire brigade arrived to rescue him and I took a shot. Joey Cleary in the Irish Presstold me to bring it in and he'd have a look. I think I got 25 quid for it.

In 1994, you went to Rwanda to cover the genocide there. Did you want to become a war photographer?No, I was just a kid. I don't think I had any sense of danger. In September 2001, I was working for News International and I was sent into Afghanistan. I was there until the Americans took Kabul. To be honest, I was bored. I was there with Tyler Hicks from the New York Times and he was living and breathing that stuff. The way he felt about shooting in a warzone was the way I felt about shooting women.

How did you eventually get your foot in the door of the fashion industry?While working at the Herald, the fashion editor Lara Macmillan gave me a gig. I drove the model to Sutton beach for a shoot. I got a call from the picture editor saying, "Where the hell are you? Fashion shoots should be done in the laneway out the back." But he changed his mind when he saw the photos.

Most fashion photographers come straight out of art school. Was your more quixotic news background a help or a hindrance? Definitely a help. On a fashion shoot, I have 30 or 40 people who come to me when there's a problem. But when you're sitting at the top of the pyramid, who do you ask? Fashion photographers who've come through the goldfish bowl of art school aren't always equipped to deal with contingencies. But having that experience of sitting in the lashing rain in Shelbourne Park, with no producer, no assistant – it has given me a tremendous ability to think on the hoof.

Describe the process from when you're commissioned to do a shoot until it appears on the page.I have very strong instincts, so magazines will often just say "we have 10 pages, it has to be shot in New York, this is the budget" and give me free rein from there. With celebrities, the most important thing is to shoot them in an original way. I just did a shoot with Justin Bieber where I made it look as though he has just been beaten up. He's the most famous kid in the world so, even though I'd gone through all of his people, when he arrived on set I still only had about four seconds to sell him on my idea. Being Irish really helps in that situations. Because we're not phoney. We're not pretentious. We shoot from the hip.

Let me quote your online bio. "Tony's trademarks are dynamism, sex and boundaries that are transgressed .. . The story's not done until he says it's done . . . You're never lost with Tony Kelly." You didn't write this about yourself, did you? No, that was written for me by Constance Harris. She's a good friend and a great supporter from the very start.

Which is your favourite of all the models you've shot?Well, the biggest celebrities are rarely the easiest to work with. I think my favourite model was Keith Richards's daughter Alexandra. I photographed her naked for French Playboy. She flew economy from New York to the south of Spain. She just turned up and took off her clothes. She didn't get paid a cent for it. I remember her singing Rolling Stones songs in the car on the way back. A gem of a girl.

A few months later, Hefner offered her $100,000 to reprint the shots in American Playboy. She said no.

I had this impression of American 'Playboy' as a very sedate, airbrushed publication. But you photographed Daisy Lowe for last month's cover and it was a very funky shoot.Here's the thing: from the 1960s right through to the 1980s, people like Herb Ritts and David LaChapelle worked for Playboyand it was probably the leading publication in the world for photography. That changed a bit in the 1990s and 2000s, but I think they're really trying to turn it around again. About a year ago, they brought me in and invited me to start shooting stuff that had a different, fresher feel.

Finally, who would you most like to work with that you haven't yet?Well, it's weird because I sit here every week wondering who I'd like to shoot next and most of the time I get them. So that's a tough one. Has anyone turned me down? Actually, just the other week, I was watching Eurosport. They cover the modern pentathlon and they interviewed this French girl called Elodie Clouvel. She was just stunning: a six foot two brunette with really [Helmut] Newton-esque features. She swims, fences, rides horses . . . I asked my PA to contact her, but she wasn't interested.

tonykellyphotography.com