Elliott Smith: From Behind The Lens

Elliott Smith: From Behind The Lens

Portraits of Elliott Smith: Aidin Vaziri | Autumn de Wilde didn't exactly pick the easiest subject for her first picture book, "Elliott Smith" ($29.95, Chronicle Books). "He hated having his photo taken," the Los Angeles photographer says of the troubled singer-songwriter, who four years ago this month was found dead at 34 with two stab wounds in his chest. "What we had between us was trust, and all our ideas flowed from that." Best known for sad-eyed folk ballads such as "Between the Bars" and "Miss Misery" (which he surreally performed at the 1998 Oscars), Smith is featured in little-seen images in the 224-page book that astoundingly show him cracking smiles, pulling funny poses and generally having a ball in front of de Wilde's camera. "People always think about him sitting in a bar, depressed," the photographer says. "But he was so smart and so funny, even when he was down. This book is my humble attempt at trying to prevent him from becoming a cartoon character." Continue reading.