Anastasiya Loginova: You've had a big experience in taking pictures of different musicians. Every photo shoot is unique or do you usually have something like a plan for every photo shoot with every person?
Richard Bellia: Again, the answer is I do not have a plan when I go to a photo shoot. I just take the regime what the light gives me and them I work very quickly.
Anastasiya Loginova: Do you like to work with the day light, not artificial?
Richard Bellia: Probably, yes.
Anastasiya Loginova: What do you think about photo shoots of musicians and live shows today? Have they changed over several years?
Richard Bellia: Well. I think that… I'm very surprised to see that the great majority of photographers go to concerts with digital cameras. And I don't think they look so good. And I'm surprised that people don't really realise… I don't understand the fact that for a digital camera people put a lot of money, energy, a lot of time working on their images. And at the end of he day they don't have this work on papers. They usually only have their images on their computers. And this really frustrates me. When you go to their places they don't have these images on their walls – only on their computers and seem to be happy with this.
Anastasiya Loginova: Do you prefer film cameras?
Richard Bellia: Yes. Because at the end you have your photo on paper. And this is your job, this is what you do – for papers. This is what I produce.
Anastasiya Loginova: Did you take pictures of Placebo, Robert Smith and other musicians by a film camera?
Richard Bellia: I only do film. I don't do digital.
Anastasiya Loginova: So, for example, on your websites we can see scans, yes?
Richard Bellia: Absolutely. I scan negatives most of the time. And sometimes I scan photos or I take my telephone and I photograph them. For Instagram, for instance.
Anastasiya Loginova: What's about the authors' rights of photographs? For example, you did a photo shoot. Do you have the right to post these pictures?
Richard Bellia:Yes, because the law regarding photography is very easy to understand. You can only photograph people if they are doing their job, if their job is public. I could take a photo of a politician, an actor or musicians when they are doing their job. When they are at a festival they are doing their job. There I can show my photos as much as I can. The thing that you cannot do in terms of photography is making a business out of these photos. And that, for instance, if I make T-shirts or mugs – whatever. Where I would be making money specifically selling a product with the name Placebo, for instance, or just any band or person. And Placebo would make money out of it. This is just not legal to do this. Again, for example, I have photos of Brian Molko. I photographed him on the street, when he left home on the way to a supermarket. Of course, there I can take photos if he agrees but I would not publish these photos because the guy was not doing his job. It is his private life when he is on the street between his home and a supermarket. This is the difference in the law of photography.
Another example. If somebody made a book about Placebo but without Placebo knowing about it, then they would be very rightly upset. 'Look, some person is making money selling a book with my name, and we haven't got a penny'. On the contrary, if somebody made a book about 90throck and put a photo of Placebo in it, Placebo would not be upset. No, because the book about rock in the 90th. This is a difference between a book when a band would complain, and a book when a band would not complain.
Anastasiya Loginova: As a photographer you post some pictures on your Instagram or Facebook page. And you know that today a lot of fans can upload these images and post them on fan communities or pages. Does it make you upset when a lot of people use photographs from your social media without your permission? Or you think that it is now an ordinary thing?
Richard Bellia: The photos look quality and usually they have a watermark. And this is what fans do – share images.