Photographer and filmmaker Steven Sebring spent 11 years chronicling the reemergence of legendary rock ’n’ roll poet Patti Smith for his 2008 Sundance winner, Dream of Life, and Vanity Fair just launched a slideshow of a few images that he captured along the way. We’re partial to the one above, which he snapped a Coney Island, a one-time hangout of Smith and her best friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. They both liked Nathan’s hot dogs. (Odd bit of trivia: Smith was first introduced to her now-deceased husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith, in front of a hot dog place in Detroit. Coincidence?)
Click through for more of Sebring’s lush photos, which were recently compiled into a coffee table book
. If you’re in New York, you should also check out Patti Smith and Steven Sebring: Objects of Life , a collaborative show at the Robert Miller Gallery in Chelsea. The exhibit — which displays personal items that range from Smith’s Polaroid camera to Robert Mapplethorpe’s slippers — is up through February 6.
Coney Island, 1996
CBGB’s, 1997
Tokyo, 1997
LA, 2001
London, 2005