For over ninety minutes Lachapelle silenced the packed lecture room at Marina Bay Sands convention centre, with his talk on his work, life and philosophy of life.
"I use beauty to share my vision", he said, stating beauty is his tool, not his mission. A tool he learned thoroughly as a photographer for glossy magazines.
"People blamed me using the Katrina catastrophe in New Orleans", he said, showing
slides of his famous pictures of fashion models in front of ruined houses. Those images were made, he told the audience, months before the disaster. The magazine however, was published days after the disaster, suggesting David 'uswed' the disaster for his images.
However, he didn't and couldn't have used the disaster, on the contrary, he tried to show the contrast between the glamorous world of fashion and the deterioated houses of the world's poor.
At Art Stage David Lachapelle stole many hearts with his open, and honest presentation. A few years ago, he said, he had enough of the glamourous but pressing and demanding world of fashion magazines, and he decided to move to the countryside. Slowly he's finding his way into the visual art world with his photography. It takes often months to make one image, he said, and: "as long as I can pay my bills, I'm happy with my descion having left the often crazy and stressed glamourworld".
His many Asian fans lined up after the lecture, to have his photobooks autographed.
