Published November 2009
source: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/homes/2009/11/michael_jackson_harry_benson_article#ixzz1OrzocDsk
2009年11月的Architectural Digest上的Michael的Neverland的照片，非常漂亮，可惜主人再也不在那了。
中文來源：mjjcn.com 翻譯：alextoalex
In 1982 real estate developer William Bone completed a sprawling residence—including a 13,000-square-foot main house—for himself and his family in California’s Santa Ynez Valley.
These pictures are of the residence as it was when Michael Jackson bought it from Bone in 1988, completely furnished, and just the way he lived in it for many years. Jackson named it Neverland, added some furniture and many paintings to the interior and transformed the grounds into his very own amusement park. Of course, the King of Pop also added a throne.
Oak ceiling and walls distinguished the library (above), which featured a hidden movie screen that lowered from the ceiling. On the Heriz rug stood an 18th-century drop-leaf table flanked by a circa-1840 English comb-back Windsor chair on the right and a leather-upholstered English Gainsborough chair on the left. Above the fireplace, two paintings of English coaching scenes hung on the wall between a pair of French bronze horses signed by Moignier.
The dining room featured an 18th-century refectory table and English yew Windsor chairs, a 19th-century oval English yew-wood gateleg table and a circa 1780 cross-banded oak Welsh dresser base used as a sideboard. The painting by Paul Clemmens, 1978, is a portrait of William Bones’ wife and child.
Grassy lawns and the Santa Ynez Mountains could be viewed from the library. A circa 1820 French tilt-top table rested on an antique Hamadan ruｇ．
A pair of 17th-century French monastery mirrors with embroidered frames hung above a wood sculpture once in the Louvre’s collection. In front of the antique French worktable was a Chinese porcelain tobacco jar.
Wood tones dominated the gentleman’s bath, which was accented with brass candlesticks and fixtures, a marble countertop, a camel-hair Heriz rug, a mid-19th-century linen press and an antique stool.
Photographer Harry Benson Flashes Back
http://www.architecturaldigest.c ... arry_benson_article
Photographer Harry Benson’s first-person account of his visits with Michael Jackson at Neverland.
Text and Photography by Harry Benson Published November 2009
我在1984年Colorado的一個山坡上第一次遇見Michael。他正和他的兄弟們在著名的Victory Tour上。
當我爬一座陡峭且泥濘的小山並滑倒時，Michael是第一個跑過來幫我的。我還好，不過有兩個鏡頭沾滿了泥巴。這是Michael第一次喜歡上我的褐色蘇格蘭粗花呢夾克,所以我脫下它送給了Michael. 他看上去很喜歡我的禮物，立刻穿上了它，舉起雙臂在陽光下旋轉，我在一旁拍攝他奔跑跳躍。那天晚上，他穿著亮片在舞臺上熠熠生輝，我帶著這些照片飛回紐約。
Victory Tour的勢頭持續走強，我去費城拍更多Michael的照片。同樣的事又發生了。這次是一件灰色的Harris粗花呢夾克。我見他近距離的觀察並著迷於花呢的顏色，所以我再次把我的夾克送給了他。一段時間後，我開心地在一段電視片段中發現Michael穿著這件夾克，被歌迷們包圍，跑進一輛豪華轎車。
1985年，我在洛杉磯拍攝Michael在“We Are the World”的整夜錄音活動，為非洲的饑餓兒童籌款。Quincy張貼了一條標語寫著：“把你的自負留在門外。”參加活動的45名明星們都這麼作了。Prince一直打電話說他正在考慮來，Quincy叫他趕緊因為錄音已經開始了。我聽見Michael說：“有我在，Prince從來不出現的。”當Prince再次打電話時，Quincy告訴他不用來了，錄音已經結束了。
我們第一次會面時，Michael看上去很靦腆。他用大家都熟悉的輕柔的高音調的聲音說話，但是奇怪的是，10分鐘後他的聲音變得低沉，不過仍然十分輕柔。我發現許多有權勢的人，國家領導這一類的人說話非常輕柔。他們不需要喊叫來引起你的注意。你需要在他們第一次說的時候聽清他們在說什麼－他們不會重複。Michael也是如此。一小時後我們再次相會時，他的聲音變化又從頭開始――高音調安靜的聲音，10分鐘後變的低沉。
當我 1995年遇見Michael時，他再次看上了我的花呢外套，所以我又一次送給了他。他穿上和他的新娘Lisa Marie Presley照相。
1997年，我去Neverland拍攝Michael和他的寶寶, Prince Michael。當時他正在喂Prince，孩子的臉上滿是食物，Michael開玩笑說：“現在是Linda Blair時間，”她是電影The Exorcist驅魔人中的女主角。Prince很高興並歡笑著。之後，我們把Prince帶到樓上他的房間，Michael給他一個奶瓶並抱著他一直到睡著，唱著爸爸的寶貝一類的歌。Michael告訴我Prince給了他比以前任何時候更多的音樂的靈感。
第二天Michael把我帶到他的排練室，他在那完善他的moonwalk。他告訴我他經常帶Prince來這裏看他在鏡子前練習，將來有一天他們會一齊跳舞。我當時確信這會是他的下一個舉動。Prince坐著玩一個話筒，同時觀察著他父親的每一個動作。Michael告訴我moonwalk很簡單，“這樣作，Harry, 把你的腳往後拉。“當然，我沒有太愚蠢去試。
他的臥室外有一個女王騎兵的蠟像。臥室本身暗而樸素，是米色和褐色的色調，實話說，有點壓抑。床邊是一個巨大的紅色的鎦金的御座樣的椅子。桃花心木的四根帷柱的床之上是一幅金髮耶穌的畫像。
Michael 很容易相處並高興的帶我參觀他的家。照片拍的很快。有一件事人們容易忘記――你必須快速的工作，你的拍攝物件才不會覺得厭倦。當Michael問我我想要他穿什麼衣服時，我說，“作你自己，穿你覺得舒服的衣服。”
很明顯Neverland能夠將Michael從煩惱和他充滿壓力的日常生活中帶開。在那兒有他需要的每件東西。在我的印象中Michael不是隱士。他讀報紙，關心新聞。又一次他問我對雷根的看法，他當時是美國的總統。他還很好奇俄國作家Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn是什麼樣的人，因為Michael見過我為他照的照片。Michael明顯知道照片上的人是誰，同時用他悲傷的眼睛搜尋關注著我。偶然，他會笑起來，不過大多數時候他只是看。
儘管我和Michael不是很熟，我們彼此友好而互相尊敬。而這是你想要的，就是某人讓你作你的工作。我會懷念他。我們會懷念他的偉大的才能。
------------------------------------剛剛google了Harry Benson，發現這位是一位在攝影界很了不起的人物，他為從業50多年，得過無數獎項， 為從Eisenhower到Obama的每一任美國總統拍過照，為眾多演藝界及政界人物拍過照，當年Beatles 那張很著名的枕頭大戰就是他的作品。有時想也許真正是英雄惜英雄。
I first met Michael on a hillside in Colorado in 1984. He was on the famous Victory Tour with his brothers.
Michael was the first to come running over to help when I slipped going up a steep muddy hill. I was fine, but a couple of lenses got covered in mud. That was the first time Michael took a liking to one of my brown Scottish tweed sports jackets, so I took it off and gave it to him. He seemed pleased by my gesture and immediately put it on, put both arms out and twirled around in the bright sunlight while I photographed him running and jumping. On stage that night he glittered in sequins. I flew back to New York with the photographs.
The momentum of the Victory Tour kept building, so I joined Michael in Philadelphia for more photos. The same thing happened again. This time it was a gray Harris tweed jacket. I saw him looking closely at the colors in the tweed. They seemed to fascinate him, so again I gave him my jacket. Sometime later I was amused to see a news clip of Michael actually wearing the jacket, running into a limo, mobbed by fans.
In 1985 I photographed Michael at the “We Are the World” all-night recording session in Los Angeles , conceived to raise money for the starving children of Africa . Quincy Jones posted a sign that said, “Leave your egos at the door,” and the 45 stars who participated did just that. The artist known as Prince kept telephoning to say he was thinking of coming. Quincy told him to hurry, as they had begun working. I overheard Michael say, “Prince will never come while I am here.” When Prince called again, Quincy told him not to bother; it was all over.
On first encounter, Michael seemed shy. He spoke in the very soft, high-pitched voice recognizable to the world, but, oddly enough, after about 10 minutes his tone deepened, although he still spoke very softly. I find that many powerful people, heads of state and such, speak very softly. They don’t have to shout to get your attention. Try to hear what they say the first time—they don’t like to repeat. Michael was like that. An hour later, when we met again, it was like starting over—again, the high-pitched, quiet voice, which morphed into something deeper after about 10 minutes.
When I saw Michael in 1995, again my tweed jacket was coveted, so again I gave it to him. He put it on for the photographs with new bride Lisa Marie Presley.
In 1997 I visited Neverland to photograph Michael with his firstborn, Prince Michael. While he was feeding Prince, the baby’s face became covered with food. Michael joked, “Oh, it’s Linda Blair time,” referring to the actress in the film The Exorcist. The baby was happy and laughing. Later, we took Prince upstairs to his room, where Michael gave him a bottle and held him until he went to sleep, singing little songs to him, something about Daddy’s baby. Michael told me Prince had inspired him to write more music than he had written at any other time in his life.
The following day Michael took me into the rehearsal studio where he had refined the moonwalk. He told me he often brought Prince there to watch him practice in front of the mirrored wall and said they would dance together someday. I was convinced that was going to be the next act. Prince sat playing with a microphone and watching his father’s every move. Michael told me the moonwalk was very easy to do. “Just do this, Harry, and pull your foot back.” Needless to say, I wasn’t stupid enough to try.
Standing outside his bedroom was a wax figure of a queen’s Household Cavalry guard. The bedroom itself was dark and quite plain, in tones of beige and brown, and, to be honest, a bit depressing. Adjacent to the bed was a huge, red, thronelike chair ornately trimmed in gilt. Above the mahogany four-poster was a painting of a blond Jesus.
Michael was easy to work with and delighted in showing me his home. All the photos were done quickly. That’s the thing people forget—you have to work quickly so that your subject doesn’t become bored. When Michael asked what I wanted him to wear, I said, “Just be yourself. Wear what you feel comfortable in.”
One could see how Neverland could take Michael’s mind off all his worries and transport him from the reality of his stressful life. He had everything he wanted there. I got the impression that in no way was Michael a recluse. He read the papers and kept up with the news. Once he asked me what I thought of the Reagans, who were in the White House at the time. He was also curious to know what the Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was like, as Michael had seen my photograph of him. Michael made a point of knowing who was who, while all the time those sad eyes were searching, looking closely at me. Occasionally he would break into a laugh, but mostly he was just looking.
Although I wasn’t close to Michael, we were friendly and respectful of each other, and that’s really all you want, someone who allows you to do your job. I will miss him. We will all miss his immense talent.
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