Anthony Bourdain rides a train in Sri Lanka in May 2017.
Photographs by David Scott Holloway Story by Kyle Almond, CNN
Anthony Bourdain wanted his travel show to be as real as it could possibly be.
He didn’t want big, overly rehearsed productions. He wanted his audience to come along with him as he experienced something special, and often for the first time.
“He would do his research on the subjects, but he wouldn't talk to them before a scene because he wanted everything to happen organically in the conversation,” said photographer David Scott Holloway, who traveled with Bourdain all over the world for the better part of 12 seasons. “He didn't want to start talking about something and then have to sort of re-have that conversation in front of the cameras. He wanted it to all happen there.”
It made for great television, but it could occasionally make things tough for Holloway.
David Scott Holloway photographs the Dong Ba Market in Vietnam for “Parts Unknown” in March 2014.
Holloway recalled their trip to Vietnam in March 2014. Before a dinner scene, Holloway asked Bourdain if he would take a few portraits — professional shots to help CNN promote the show. Bourdain declined and said they could do it later that night.
When Bourdain was finally ready for portraits, he and his dinner guests had enjoyed multiple beers — and he was feeling good. Maybe a little too good, as he found out the next morning.
“I showed him one of the pictures of him from the night before, and he’s like, ‘Oh! OK,” Holloway said. He immediately understood.
Bourdain poses for a portrait in Beirut, Lebanon, in February 2015.
The two got along great during their time on the show, and photographing Bourdain was a dream job, Holloway said.
“Tony was like the cooler, older cousin — like he knew that I wasn't very cool but I was part of his family so he was going to look out for me. And he always did that.”
Bourdain would have been 63 on Tuesday, June 25. In his honor, Holloway looks back at some favorite photos from the show and tells the stories behind them:
“We did this rural Cajun Mardi Gras where they make these crazy costumes and they have masks,” Holloway said. Bourdain told the crew to hang back for the first hour so he could be in the moment and people wouldn’t know he was there. “Tony was trying to grab a drink before being recognized. … There are rules to the parade, like if you're going to be in the parade you have to be in costume, and I think he on some level appreciated the anonymity. Maybe not necessarily the style of it. But he appreciated the idea that you could go be in something and be anonymous.”
The Bourdain crew spent some time with an artist collective known as Los Carpinteros (The Carpenters).
“They've had shows here in New York and they're amazing,” Holloway said. “The pig was just part of the feasts that we were going to have at dinner there, and this is at their house. ... I was talking to some of the people and saying, ‘Oh yes, you're having a party for us.’ And they were like: ‘No, we would have the party whether you were here or not. We have parties all the time.’ ”
“People think he’s an elitist, but he’s not,” Holloway said, using this example of Bourdain slipping out of his hotel to go get some Popeyes fried chicken.
“He would do stuff like that all the time, and he would make a great argument for why Popeyes is so good. … We were probably a little less than half a mile away from this Popeyes. He saw me in the hotel lobby one night and was like, ‘Hey, are you hungry?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m always hungry.’ He’s like, ‘Let’s go get chicken.’ And we just walked up the highway and ate fried chicken.”
Chef Nigella Lawson makes a “hangover cure” breakfast for Bourdain at her home. “It was really nice because it was obvious that Tony really enjoyed being around her like that. They were old friends,” Holloway said.
“Tony trained in jiu-jitsu, and he went through a phase where he got really serious. He got abs, he lost like 30 pounds in three months, and he had kind of quit recreational drinking and was trying to be a little more serious about taking care of himself. He did that for a couple of years, and then he didn't do it. This is at the point where he had started smoking again, and she was telling him, ‘Ah, I’m so glad that you’re back to being Tony because I found you so boring!’ ”
Bourdain’s show visited a Hindu temple for Temple Day celebrations.
“Sri Lanka’s an amazing place. It’s so far away, and people are really kind and interesting,” Holloway said. “The hooks, it’s part of a religious ceremony. … These guys with the big hooks were suspended from these boards on the fronts of trucks and they would bounce up and down and they’d go through this 5-kilometer parade through the neighborhood from temple to temple. They do it as like an atonement.”
Holloway says this is his favorite photo of Bourdain. They were hanging out before shooting some portraits.
“I was in the yard goofing off, waiting for the light to get better. He'd gotten himself a beer and he was reading me the headlines of what was happening. Then I just turned around and saw him sitting there, and I picked up my camera and snapped three frames. For me personally, it was just a moment. I was really happy that we were in Tanzania.”
Holloway lived in Tanzania about 20 years ago. “I don't know that (Bourdain) loved Tanzania, but one of the things that he loved about that place is, we would be coming back at the end of the day and he's like: ‘I don't know who tells them, but they know. When I get back, there's always a perfect bubble bath waiting for me.’ There, he had this bubble bath that looked out over the crater and you could watch the sunset.”
Bourdain shares a meal with rapper Luther Campbell, aka Luke Skyywalker from 2 Live Crew.
“Most people there would leave them alone. But when people would come up, they would always go up to Luke,” Holloway remembers. “I love those instances where Tony's not the most famous person in the room. And he loved those, too. He always preferred that.”
“Dude, Tony loved driving. He was super into it,” Holloway said. “If he got a chance to drive somewhere, he was totally in. Or ride scooters. He loved the scooters in Vietnam. That was super fun. … I don't think he was crazy about cars. He just liked the physical act of driving.”
Bourdain is driving an American muscle car in this photo. “The cars were so much fun,” Holloway said. “We went out and had drag races with these guys out in the country.”
Holloway said Bourdain was always willing to please his fans and take pictures when he could.
“He didn't want to devote too much time to it. But I never saw him say no unless we were in the middle of filming, and even then he didn't say no. It'd be the director who'd be like, ‘Wait, we're doing something right now, give us 10 minutes.’ ”
Bourdain tries to apply jiu-jitsu to a stick-fighting lesson. He enjoyed combat sports.
“He did some voiceover work for the UFC and he was really excited about it. He was really proud. He was like, ‘Yeah man, I'd like to do this all the time,’ ” Holloway recalled.
“When people would say, ‘Oh my God, I don't know what to say to (Bourdain),’ I would always say, well, you should either talk about ‘John Wick’ or you should talk about jiu-jitsu. Because those are two things that he'll always want to talk about.”
“It's fun to just get in the car and drive with him and be in like a magical place,” Holloway said. “Kamau (Bell) went to Kenya with us, and I think he said it best. I'm just paraphrasing, but he was like, ‘Traveling with Anthony Bourdain is as cool as you think it is.’ ”
Crew member Todd Liebler shoots television footage for a “Parts Unknown” episode.
“The whole crew is very small, but everyone is so good,” Holloway said. “I learned so much about travel. I learned so much about approaching people just from watching them work. They're all really good travelers. They're really good at breaking down boundaries and engaging with people in a really positive way.”
Bourdain admires a T-shirt of Blondie singer Debbie Harry while visiting the Kibera slums.
“We're going through all of these used clothes and clothes that are donated in America and then shipped to Africa and then sold,” Holloway said. “There wasn't a lot that he found that he was interested in. Then he found that T-shirt. He told me: ‘I like the idea that this is from our town (New York City). And then it came here. And then we've come and we're taking it home.’ I wonder where that shirt is now. Maybe it's been re-donated and it's heading back to Kenya again.”
“A lot of times I would ask him either at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day to meet me on the roof of the hotel,” said Holloway, who would then take portraits of Bourdain. “For me personally, those were always really awesome times. I'm very fortunate to have that gift of having him to myself sometimes.
“I've been really lucky. I've had a few really legit mentors like Jane Goodall and Norman Mailer and people who have given me a lot of time. And they've all been good and they've all made me better. But Tony was the best one. I feel like I'm better because of knowing him.”
David Scott Holloway is a photographer based in New York. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter.
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