Tiger Beat Spectacular - Spring 1970

Bobby - Through The Eyes Of The Camera
By Kenny Lieu, Tiger Beat's Chief Photographer

Hi!  I'm Kenny Lieu and I've been taking pictures of stars and recording artists for more than ten years now.  It's very exciting to be a photographer because you get to meet so many talented and friendly people.  Over the years I guess I've taken pictures of everyone from the Beatles to Elizabeth Taylor.  But in all the years I've been a photographer I've never met a nicer person than Bobby

The first time I photographed him was about five years ago when he was doing the "Shindig" show.  Bobby was new to TV then and he was much more nervous about performing than he is now.  When I first took pictures of him, he wasn't at ease in different poses and he sort of fought off having his picture taken.  One thing I noticed about him was that he didn't have a lot of ego.

GREAT GUY - In those days Bobby's hair was worn in a big wave on top of his head and slicked back on the sides.  His favorite outfits were velour shirts in all different colors and boots.  Mostly he wore tight, dark pants, and sometimes an identification bracelet.  Once I remember that he wore a chain around his neck with a large ring hanging from it.  I didn't know whether that meant he was going steady or not and I never asked him, but there were always lots of girls coming up to him at rehearsals getting his autograph.

A LONER - Bobby was always polite to everyone but I wouldn't say he was very outgoing.  He has much quieter than he is today and kept to himself most of the time.

When he started becoming popular, Col-Pix records signed him to his first recording contract and I shot a color photo that was used outside the record.  I remember that none of us really liked the shot that much, but we had to go with it anyway.  After that I didn't see Bobby for more than four years.

Then, just before "Brides" went on television we decided to get Bobby in for a shooting.  The first thing I noticed about him was his hair.  It had grown a lot and right away I thought he looked better.   Bobby shook my hand and said it had been such a long time since he'd seen me.  I could tell right away that he'd changed.

MORE AT EASE - We got to talking and he told me that he'd just gone out and spent almost $1,500.00 on new clothes and he was very excited.  He was changing his whole way of dressing.  Everything he wore to the shooting looked great on him.

When I began to take the photos, Bobby helped me a lot by changing his expression and suggesting angles and the types of shots he thought would be good.  It's a funny thing about photographing stars because although they're in front of the movie cameras all day, sometimes when they have to pose for still photos they freeze up and get very tense.   They just aren't easy to work with.

Bobby doesn't mind the still camera a bit and he poses willingly for as long as he can until he begins getting tired.  Another thing he does is move in front of the camera so the doesn't become stiff.  He likes to talk to me while I'm shooting.  Mostly he likes to talk about girls or his car.  Every time I see him something different has happened to his car.  This really bothers him because he loves his car.

When Bobby and Bridget went up to Seattle the first time to appear before the Girl Scouts, Bobby told me I could come along and take pictures.  We flew up on the same plane together and stayed over Saturday night in a hotel in Seattle.  On the plane Bobby joked and laughed with the stewardess.  She had seen him on "Here Come the Brides" and liked the show.  When he wasn't talking with her, Bobby studied his script for the next week.  Bobby told me that he doesn't learn lines as easily as some actors and he must study them over and over.

WEEKEND TRIP - You can learn a lot about people when you spend a whole weekend with them and one of the things I noticed about Bobby was that he tries to be almost perfect in everything he does.  He won't settle for anything less than his best effort.  But it was funny on this trip because Bobby just wasn't in the mood for having many pictures taken.  He was tired from a hard week's shooting and he didn't want to pose.  But I did get lots of good shots of him singing at the performance.

On Saturday night Bobby asked me to go along with him to a Rock and Roll show they were having in Seattle.  He really loves music and all the time we were watching the show he was explaining to me about his recording studio that he built adjacent to his parents' home in Van Nuys.  He told me that he gets so engrossed in his recording equipment that he can sometimes stay up all night.

TAKE HIS PHOTO - From a photographer's viewpoint, I would say that Bobby is one of the best subjects I've ever worked with.  He's considerate, cooperative and patient.  He doesn't really have any bad angles, but I don't like to shoot profile shots of him because somehow they never turn out to look very much like Bobby.

If you're a camera bug and you want a good subject for some photos, I'd recommend you get your camera and come to Hollywood.  Bobby Sherman will be happy to pose for you!