“The prince laughed like a child as I drew the word ‘Free’ on his stomach”: Best photo by Steve Park | Art and design

I I grew up loving Prince’s music and I remember thinking, “I’m going to work for this guy someday.” Throughout high school and college I photographed local bands. I would say I worked at a newspaper but I didn’t tell them it was my high school newspaper, so they would give me passes to U2 or Boy George. One time, when I went to photograph Lionel Richie, I was supported by Sheila E., who I knew had a connection to the prince. I ended up talking to her guitar player and told him I was a photographer and artist. He asked me to draw something, so I snapped a quick picture of him on a napkin and he said we should keep in touch.

About the Sign o’ the Times album, he called to tell me he was joining Prince’s band, and said, “I’ll take you with me.” He showed the prince some of my artwork, which he seemed to like. I was asked to draw a theater for him, which was my first assignment, and one day he asked me: “Have you ever taken pictures?” You were in the right place at the right time. I got a digital camera and became in-house art director at Paisley Park, where I took photos from 1988 until 1996.

My experience with Prince was different than most people’s. When I first met him, no one told me, “Don’t look him in the eye” or anything like that. I was 25 and tried to be my normal self, but professional, which suited the way we worked. He says, “I have an idea. Bring your camera.” Sometimes he would ask me to delete a photo – maybe it was blurry, or the light wasn’t good – but he was very lucky because it was very attractive. There were shots where he came in without makeup, and he had a different look, but he still looked great. I would say 98% of the time it looked amazing.

This shoot was for a notorious magazine, one of the few times someone from the outside hired me. It was for an end-of-year cover and their art director wanted his stomach to read “1999.” The prince wasn’t having it. He wanted to do something new. It was during the period when he was talking about his freedom from record companies, and he suggested the word “free”. We were at Paisley Park before 8am, which was unusually early. The art director saw the purple background and light of a movie and said, “Do you want to shoot like this?” I told him this is how we work. He said: If I were to suggest something, would he agree? He came back with a shower curtain and hung it in front of him to spread out.

When it came to the logo, Prince told the man mixing the gold paint: “Steve will do it.” I was like: “What?” The next thing I knew, I was writing “free” on Prince’s stomach with my fingers. It was cold, so he started laughing like a child. I was thinking “I hope the paint doesn’t run because I have to clean my fingers and start shooting.” The prince’s arms were outstretched because he knew that would draw more attention to the word.

I was a little taller, so I always had a great angle to shoot him from. He lowered his chin slightly and looked into those eyes. He would ask, “Why do people think I had a nose job?” I told him it was because when he was younger, people would shoot him straight in the nose while the way she did it made him look more angular, so people thought he had surgery. The model in the shot is Desray Junca, who appeared in The Greatest Romance Sold video ever. He wanted a main character to film: someone to give him choices. The gold on her fingers makes it look as if she is painting a picture. No one wants to see me sitting there like that.

Biography of Steve Park

child: Arizona, 1963
High point: He was given the opportunity by Prince who was a master of his creativity and art.
Top tip: Trust your eyes, because what you see leads to your style and perception.