Whatup John. The usual..name? age? residence?
John Shearer, 22, Hollywood, California.

You just moved to LA from San Francisco. What’re the best and worst things about LA so far?
The best thing about LA is getting to see Metal Skool (formerly Metal Shop) every Monday night at the Viper Room, and always having lots of transvestite hookers on hand.

Also, knowing that I can fall back on an acting career if the whole photography thing falls through, but I don¹t think that will happen. There's a lot of work for photographers here.

So how’d you get inolved with photography?
Shooting skater kids and punk bands through high school.

Familiar story... So, you somehow get the entertainment industry’s biggest rockstars and movie stars to open up in front of your camera.. They just seem more comfortable in front of your lens, and it shows in your photos. Why do you think that is? How do you pull this out of them?
Most of my more intimate photos are of artists that I've built a relationship with in the past. In general, I've met and photographed them several times before they give me access to more private aspects of their lives, like the dressing room or tour bus.

Most people aren't comfortable letting photographers hang around offstage. I think that being younger helps because I can relate to them, party with them, etc, instead of being some sleazy old man trying to get close to Avril as a substitute for porn.


Is it ever tough dealing with certain subjects? Like, what if they’re not down with doin’ a crazy pose or something?
It's usually not the subjects who are tough, but more their publicists and managers who speak for them. A lot of the bands I shoot are just 18 year old punk rock kids dying for publicity, and they'll pretty much do anything I ask just to get a photo published. It gets more difficult when dealing with female pop stars whose publicists want to approve every aspect of the shoot and every word that comes out of my mouth.

What was it like being one of the exclusive photographers to document the BRITNEY/MADONNA kiss? Were you notified that something eventful was gonna happen that night?
I knew that Britney and Madonna would be performing together at the beginning of the show, but didn¹t know they were going to kiss. When it happened, the shutter button was like a cash register. Cha-Ching. You can always expect something surprising and marketable to happen at the VMA's.

What’s your favorite photograph (that you’ve taken) of all time?

Probably the Britney/Madonna photo. There's nothing great about it photographically, but I like having a photo that people can recognize. It's been good to me.

What are you working on at the current time? Current projects? Assignments?

I have a lot going on right now, beyond just shooting concerts. Over the weekend I got to hang out with Britney Spears in Fresno for a couple of hours and document her life offstage. Got some great images of her alone in the bedroom on her tour bus, and in her wardrobe and dressing rooms. This week I'm off to Cancun for 5 days to cover the MTV Spring Break festivities. So I'll get to be around thousands of frat guys getting drunk and ripping their shirts off!

Anything else you’d like me to include in the article?

Hire me, please -> shearerphotography.com!