I first photographed Tupac Shakur in Atlanta, back in 1994. He turned up half an hour early, but my equipment malfunctioned and I had to send him away. I was so embarrassed, I offered to fly to whatever city he was headed to, to do the shoot there. But he didn’t mind sticking around and turned up early the next day. He did 20 press-ups and said: “Let’s go, brother!”
There were no barriers between us. He was prepared to let his guard down, so I could show the human behind the headlines. This shot was actually an outtake. After taking some pictures of him raising his middle fingers, I just started snapping away as he played with his bandana. His gaze is sensitive: he looks a little like a deer caught up in the headlights. But then we all do at the age of 23, right?...