MUMBAI: Legendary singer Elton John's biggest passion outside of music is photography.

He is an avid art collector and is particularly fond of photography, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Recalling how his passion for photography developed in 1991, John told Observer newspaper: "I'd just gotten sober back then and it was like I was seeing with clear eyes. I was in a chateau in the south of France and David Fahey, who owns a gallery in Los Angeles, showed me some prints by Herb Ritts and Horst and Irving Penn and that was it.

"Suddenly, I discovered something that I had been surrounded by for years and never noticed as an art form despite having had my portrait taken by the likes of Penn and Richard Avedon. I just flew into it and began to amass prints at auction and in private sales. It became the greatest passion I have outside of music," he added.

John said that although he is unable to take a good photograph himself, some of his well-known musician friends are talented with a camera in hand.

"Nah, I can't take a photograph to save my life. The singer John Grant is a great photographer, though he hasn't published any yet. And Michael Stipe is fantastic. I'm not."

(Source:IANS)