Kirk Weddle

Kurt Cobain Underwater

1991

In October 1991, just as Nirvana were tearing up the rock'n'roll rule book with their major label debut Nevermind, Austin photographer Kirk Weddle was commissioned to shoot the band for photos to promote the impending blitz. His idea? Toss the band into a swimming pool to mimic the album's infamous naked baby cover image he’d shot a few months earlier. But when the band showed up for the session at a Los Angeles pool in North Hollywood, they were hardly in the mood. It was first time Kirk met the band members, and they were exhausted from a string of West Coast gigs. The weather was unseasonably cold for an outdoor swim, so cold that Kirk wore a wetsuit. He recalls, "The guys were like, 'Wow, we've got to swim in this?'" However Kirk, known as one of the industry's best underwater photographers, was able to convince the band to take the plunge and captured an extraordinary collection of photographs. Kirk Weddle creates enticing imagery for advertising and editorial and corporate clients all over the world, including Logitech, Coca-Cola, Toshiba, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Time, Rolling Stone and