Afshin Shahidi, a photographer who spent more than 20 years taking intimate, candid photos of Prince, is releasing a book of some never-before-seen photos.
The book, Prince, a Private View, will be released Wednesday, according to ABC News.
“The album covers for me ... are what I was most proud of,” Shahidi told ABC. “I still, to this day, when I see the album cover, I think, ‘Wow ... I took that picture.’ Makes me really happy.”
Shahidi, who is also the proud father of actress Yara Shahidi, said that the Purple One supported Yara’s acting career, renting out a movie theater to watch her on-screen when she got one of her first roles. He was also apparently a fan of her work on Black-ish.
“Two months before he passed, he had ... sent her a private message just saying, ‘I, I love your show, ‘Black-ish,’ and your character’s one of my favorite characters on the show,’” Afshin Shahidi recalled. “And, ‘Say hi to your pops.’”
He added, “After he passed ... they went into Prince’s office and there’s a picture of Yara in his office still,” he said. “And if you go in there, you’ll see a[n] ... 8-by-10 picture of Yara, sitting on his desk.”
“It was incredible,” he said.