“Cool as a Cucumber”

For the cover of the “Diamond dogs” album, Belgian artist Guy Pellaert depicted David Bowie sphinxlike, half-man, half-dog, basing the lower body on a Great Dane who modeled for him. The photographer Terry O’Neill decided to record the process and do a studio shoot of Bowie and the huge dog. As he started taking pictures, the dog leapt towards him: “It was an awesome sight because the dog was bloody massive. But David just sat there, cool as a cucumber. He didn’t react to the dog at all. I guess he was posing immaculately. Most rock stars would jump a mile if that happened.” This memorable image was runner-up in Q magazine’s list of 100 greatest rock’n’roll photographs in 2002.