We recently caught up with Vic Singh, the photographer that took the famous shot of Pink Floyd used on the cover of their 1967 début album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

Vic is still very active in the world of photography, and examples of his work can be found at www.vicsingh.co.uk. Whilst there, you can also buy a special, personally signed print of the cover art work. The print comes in a range of formats - three different sizes on Agfa colour photo paper, and also a gallery quality Giclee print on finest art paper. They all come with a signed certificate of authenticity. Full details can be found through this link at Vic's site.

We took the opportunity to ask Vic a few questions about the creation of the cover picture, which was shot a mere 38 years ago!

Brain Damage: How did the shoot come about? How did you get involved in it?

Vic Singh: After having met the group their manager called and asked if I could shoot a photo for their first album cover. I wanted to know what ideas they had for the album cover and was told it was up to me, as they were a new band and had not formed an image.

BD: Had you heard of the band, or heard their music, before the shoot?

Vic: Yes! I had met the band as I used to work in the music business. The band had a psychedelic vibe and their music was abstract, different to any other band in the 60's.

BD: What made you decide to take the picture you did?

Vic: I had a prism lens which split and multiplied the image perfect for the psychedelic visual for the band, I also asked the band to get some groovy brightly coloured 60's gear (clothes), hoping this would give the right visual appeal for their album cover.

BD: How was the picture achieved?

Vic: Shot in my studio with a Hasselblad camera with the prism lens attached, strobe lighting with the band on a white background.

BD: What were they like to work with?

Vic: Very easy. We spent the whole day listening to their sounds, chatting and shooting the pics, an enjoyable experience was had by all.

BD: Would you have worked with them again if the opportunity arose?

Vic: Yes. It would be interesting to see what we would produce now.

BD: Following this shoot, did you take any other music-related photos?

Vic: Yes. At that time I worked for various Record Companies, Management and The Press. I only did that one session with PF. After which the band and Storm got involved on the imagery and design side, they are still working together.

BD: Finally, as you mention, you are still in the world of photography. How has it changed for you over the years? Has the rise of new technology helped or hindered the creative process? And if you could revisit past works (for example, the Piper cover!), with the tools available now, would you?

Vic: In the 60's using creative special effects for stills and pop films for the music industry was limited and expensive to produce (videos did not exist). So I got around this by creating effects for stills in the camera and darkroom and for films in the Arriflex camera combined with a bit of clever film editing. Now technology has opened doors to creativity and communication big-time. For me it's been a learning process and progression not only in photography but multimedia. the Piper cover was innovative enough in 1967. It is natural for me to combine the old with the new. Even a grainy b/w print scanned and worked on digitally looks good, combining the best of both worlds can produce excellent results.

Our thanks to Vic for sparing us time from his schedule to answer our questions.