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December 15, 1999
Web posted at: 1:06 AM EST (1806 GMT)

From Correspondent Michael Okwu

(CNN) -- "Hotels are kinda sexy right?" says photographer David LaChapelle.

Sure they are. Not in the standard businessman-suite sense, or the way the sodas cost twice what they're worth. But hotels are sexy when LaChapelle stays in them -- he says it's where he comes up with his best ideas for photographing some of the top celebrities of our time.

His work, usually bordering or defining the bizarre, has been seen on covers of just about every major magazine. And now LaChapelle's work is available in a new boxed book called "Hotel LaChapelle," a 168-page celebration of the bold, the bizarre, and the unexpected.

"It's interesting to see how far people will go and what they'll do," he says.

For instance, there's the picture of the model covered in pasta, with another model serving; the photo of a model riding a pig in a mystical forest; the picture of Britney Spears, half-dressed in her bedroom; and the nude of Pamela Anderson Lee hatching from an egg.

"I want to make these people larger than life, more interesting, more beautiful," he says, "because there is that need for movie stars and icons. It makes us feel good to look at beautiful faces and look at big stars.

"The pictures are totally fantasies for me," he says. "They're escape. They're honest escape. They're not parading themselves as reality."

"I don't set out to be shocking or controversial," he says. "I get this blank page. I get to do whatever I want with it. It's incredible, you know? I can do whatever I want! I try to fill that page with something I want to see, something I haven't seen before."

Like, Elton John dancing on a piano?

"Lately, he was always seen in a dark suit and somber," says LaChapelle. "I wanted to see what he represented to me because I grew up with his music and stuff and I knew how outrageous and flamboyant he was."

Although he's shooting more movie and music stars, LaChapelle honed his unconventional style in fashion photography. He was honored this fall at "Interview" magazine's 30th anniversary.

Notoriety at magazines like "Interview" launched his career directing edgy ads in Europe and North America.

But his true love is still photography, and he continues to comb the world for strands of the eccentric.

He recently composed the cover of Rolling Stone's 2000 special issue, a mock orgy of the faces that populated pop culture in the 20th century.

Some observers label his photos bizarre, but LaChapelle doesn't listen.

"I don't care what they call it, as long as they pay the bill," he laughs. "As long as they don't call it boring, or someone else's. Like Truman Capote said, 'Good taste is the death of art.' As a nation, we've all gotten so tasteful. When I see a woman, even if she's a big fat woman, if she's wearing high heels and a see-through dress, I think that's great!"

He's hoping that philosophy will turn his fifteen minutes into a lifetime.

"If you don't keep consistently turning out those images, a few years pass and people are like, 'Who? David who? What?' I never feel like I can rest now. I feel like I've just started."