Having shot portraits of some of pop’s biggest stars and directed music videos for the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Carly Rae Jepsen and Cardi B, Petra Collins has witnessed superstardom up close, along with the drama and chaos that goes with it. Her latest photo book, STAR, explores pop celebrity and fandom through its depiction of two fictional musical acts: Ashley, a solo star, and Siren8, a teen idol group. STAR draws on Collins’ experience at the vanguard of pop to reimagine the rise, fall and subsequent mystery surrounding her fantasy pop stars.

Seen from the vantage point of fans and stalkers, the book is peppered with letters, conversations, and diary entries, alongside images of performances and promotional shoots. With an aesthetic of glittery eyeshadow, camisoles, bows, glossy lips, DVDs and corkboard collages, it crystallises Collins’ signature early 2000s style, evoking The Virgin Suicides, The Idol and Girls5eva (sans raunchy jokes). It’s less about the music industry than the clout and craze of fame, an allegory about the throwaway nature of pop cultural figures.

While she herself has never been a musician – except for playing the bass on the TV show Transparent – Collins created a soundtrack for STAR in collaboration with her partner (going “page-for-page, like scoring a movie, but scoring a book”). In keeping with the early 00s theme, the accompanying audio is available on CD.

We spoke with the photographer over Zoom from her home in LA. Proudly clutching her Roswell mug, Collins revealed the celebrity she especially enjoyed photographing, her feelings about self-portraiture, and the ecstatic joy she gets from crafting.

Tell me about the arc of where you started, where you’ve gone, and what you’re returning to.

Petra Collins: In an artist’s life, when you start, it’s your most instinctual and most childlike process, because you’re just learning. I’m always looking back to see what I can learn from the past. But as I was looking back, I missed that type of freedom in my photography. I started photography because I always wanted to direct a film. I was shooting everything horizontally like frames from a movie. 16 years or whatever passed. I had to turn my camera vertical to fit into fashion. For the book, I really wanted it to feel like you’re flipping through stills of film. Returning to shooting in that one format was super important to me. It’s such a simple concept, but when you’re changing the frame, you’re telling a different story, and you’re fitting movements and space into a different landscape. 

When I started, I was obviously working with no crew. I was placing my subjects into environments and just capturing them. I wanted to return to that. The production was, I guess, similar to an indie film: we didn’t build any sets, we shot entirely on location. With our cast, I just gave them a little bit of an idea of the story, and then let them go. In my head, I’ve always thought of myself as a documentarian, but documenting the world that I’ve created.

“I’ve always thought of myself as a documentarian, but documenting the world that I’ve created” – Petra Collins

The book feels allegorical, but you also talk about the way in which it’s based on an existing pop star narrative. Did you have some concrete points of reference? 

Petra Collins: The camera’s point of view is God-like, where it could be anybody telling this story: the pop star, a fan, a stalker. There weren’t any specific references to people, honestly. We don’t have phones in the story, but it’s very much about how fans interact with the figures they’re obsessed with, and how that really shaped the relationship the pop star has with the public. 

I’m fascinated with the parasocial aspect of fans. That was actually a big part of it for me, and also about the mental journey that one can spin out on. It’s about everything I’ve observed, because I grew up in tabloid culture. I remember that being really horrible. Now, it’s become even worse, where there’s no privacy and no boundary with fans. I’m more interested in telling the story of how our relationships to these icons have changed, and also how isolating it feels to be that person in the spotlight. There isn’t one person. It’s really more about that experience of what fame can do.

You have photographed lots of famous people. How do you reinvent a vision of someone who arrives with pre-existing cultural power? 

Petra Collins: I mean, it’s wild. I’m so aware of these false narratives when I go into shooting someone; I’m very lucky that I’m able to have a conversation before and ask what they’re looking to emote, or what they’re looking to show the world. It’s dangerous going into that situation because there’s so much power behind the camera that you can dictate the narrative of this person. But it really is a conversation. I have a lot of fun with it. I end up creating these images that people haven’t necessarily seen – that’s my favourite thing to do. I feel like there’s so much fashion photography where you don’t necessarily see who the person is; they’re sort of erased. I find it so interesting to put a very strong idea forward.

Is there a particular example where you felt able to showcase someone in a new light? 

Petra Collins: The Nicole Kidman shoot I did for Time. That’s actually a perfect example of coming up with ideas, and that person’s not comfortable, so you don’t do it, and then you pivot. I obviously had been a fan of hers for years – few people take my breath away that I am nervous to be around. But she just had such an amazing aura and had a strong idea of how she wanted to be photographed, and we were able to do this really intimate, beautiful portrait. I had her on the ground, in this Miu Miu nurse’s dress. I love those images so much. 

I really try to put into practice – and I think a lot of artists should put into practice – listening to your subject, and then you get the best result, because you also want the subject to be happy with the images, or to celebrate the images. You could just feel it in the photos that we were both really excited. 

I know you’re not disclosing anything about the film that you’re working on, but are there any directors who are especially inspirational to you?

Petra Collins: I just did my four favourites for Letterboxd. There’s the Canadian director [Atom Egoyan] who directed Exotica. Exotica is about these very heavy topics: it’s a bunch of stories interwoven about trauma and sexual assault – that’s what I get from the movie, but it doesn’t explicitly say that. I love films that are very withholding, and there’s a lot of ambiguity to the story. When I was picking my four favourites, I was like, ‘Why do I like these?” They all have this specific theme to them. The viewer has to create their own narratives because they aren’t explicit, but there are a lot of things you can glean from watching, and it’s fascinating. 

That’s also what’s so fun about a great horror movie, where you don’t see the monster. The Blair Witch Project, for example: it’s amazing not seeing what the monster is; it’s stronger when someone creates it in their mind. The idea of my book is also: you don’t necessarily see what the monster is. I think it’s so fun when the viewers’ minds can just run wild. It goes back to what storytelling was like: listening to a story as a child or being told a folktale, and you’re creating this image in your head. We’re in the age where we’re inundated with images and information – it’s really nice to be told a story where you can think for yourself. 

On that note, what’s your media diet or image consumption like? 

Petra Collins: Sometimes I feel like I never want to see another image ever again, because it’s just so much. I watch a lot of movies. That’s like my education. I was on the ‘one movie a night’ diet for a bit. If I’m working too much, I can’t. It’ll either be that I listen to podcasts, or I’ll watch a ton of movies. I listen to this podcast called What Went Wrong, about how every film gets made. I’ll go on TikTok, then I’ll delete the apps, and then I’ll go back on. But it really messes with my brain, because it makes me sick of looking at images. 

You once started a digital photography collective. Do you feel part of some other kind of collective today?

Petra Collins: I feel like that was an era, but I’m craving – I think everyone’s craving – community. I feel like Covid really messed with that. I try to look for that. I go to a lot of conventions. Like, I’ll go to a doll convention.

A doll convention?! Say more.

Petra Collins: There was a convention a couple of months ago, the United Federation of Doll Clubs. I’m like, ‘Maybe I can insert myself into these older systems of community.’ I love creative communities that are really interested in one thing and making something. It’s just lovely to see people coming together.

So you don’t have a doll collection or a miniature collection? 

Petra Collins: I mean, I do. I have a lot of Blythes, and I love customising them. I got really into making Putz houses [she reaches into a cabinet to show one]. 

That’s amazing. 

Petra Collins: I love, love, love crafting. It goes back to DIY culture. And it’s so nice to sit with a group of people and have the crafts out. Those are the things that I do in between everything. It has nothing to do with any type of monetisation; it’s something just for joy, and so there’s no pressure. It’s so fun.

STAR is published by Rizzoli and is available here now.