Andy Summers

The former Police guitarist has had a long-term passion for photography. Niall Hampton spoke to him about his new book A Series of Glances

- Niall Hampton

Andy Summers isn’t the first successful musician to have reached for a camera, but he can certainly play it as well as a six-stringed instrument. A fêted guitarist, known for his distinctive and inventive output for The Police and subsequently as a solo artist, Summers’ photography is no less interesting and accomplished. Leafing through his latest photo book, A Series of Glances, a lot of the photographs exhibit a cinematic quality and have graced many a gallery wall over the years. Keen to discover more about Summers’ influences and his photographic journey, we spoke to him over Zoom from New York.

What led to the publication of A Series of Glances – is it a ‘where we are now’ study?

I wouldn’t say it’s a ‘greatest hits’, but it is a survey of my involvement in photography since I started in about 1980. That’s what it is. I think it’s probably the best book I’ve done so far and I’m pretty pleased with it. It is almost like a career retrospective, I guess, but it’s not the end – I’m working on another book already, with another publisher in England, and the subject matter is very different.

Are there many things that you still want to document in your photography? 

Yes. I’ve been a bit restricted in the last three years, obviously, because of the pandemic but I’m a travelling guy, so I always go I’m also pleased that A Series of Glances has a retrospective look to it, showing various countries and places I’ve been. It took me a while to put it together but the next book I’m doing will be much more specific in terms of its material.