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If you could choose an artist to go on tour with as a photographer, who would you choose? Afshin Shahidi was the personal photographer and cinematographer to the talented musician Prince for 15 years.

His new book, Prince: A Private View depicts his best pictures of Prince through the years.

“I worked with Prince from 1993 actually up to about 2011,” explained Shahidi.

Before getting into the book, Tom felt the need to clear up some things about Prince’s death, specifically if Shahidi knew about his struggle with drugs.

“I never saw anything, there was no evidence of it to me and quite honestly I made this book to celebrate his life rather than talk about his death,” expressed Shahidi. “I was shocked by it definitely. I had hoped he’d be going to my funeral but I didn’t delve too deep into it.”

In 2011, he stopped working as Prince’s photographer because he needed to be with his family. “I had been working with him and on the road with him for quite a bit of time and as you guys know I’m Yara’s father and I also have two other young children and it was difficult being gone that long from them,” explained Shahidi. “So he understood and he respected that, you know he called me occasionally after that to work with him on different projects and unfortunately being a freelance person I was already booked on other jobs.”

Of the many photos, he’s taken of Prince, Shahidi notes a couple to be among his favorites.

 

“You know its hard to pick one and he was such a great subject and it was actually difficult to take a bad picture of him,” expressed Shahidi. “But I really liked the photo that’s on the cover because it was very spontaneous. Very similar to how many of our shots were.”

Being able to spend time with Prince like that must have been the job of a lifetime. The book Prince: A Private View is out and can make the perfect gift for any Prince fan.

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Job Of A Lifetime: Afshin Shahidi The Photographer For Prince  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com