If you've only ever seen one photo of The Smiths, chances are it will have been the one of them stood outside The Salford Lads Club. Originally appearing in the sleeve of The Queen Is Dead, the photograph was also used on massive posters for fans to gaze at on their bedroom wall. It has been used to illustrate a thousand articles about The Smiths, and many more T-shirts, and fans emulate it (just look at our Lookalikes & Posealikes page!), turning the exterior of The Salford Lads Club into a shrine.

While I could waffle inanely for the next six months about why this iconic photo of The Smiths, which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, has the haunting effect it does, how it sums up something quintessential about the band, instead I bring you an interview with a man who was there on the day the photo was taken.

In fact, not just there - but the man behind the camera: Stephen Wright.

It all began when Stephen sent some photos to Rough Trade of some live Smiths shows, including their gig at Manchester's Free Trade Hall. "When they played there, I could only afford one roll of film but it was a great show and there are some interesting images. I climbed on the side of the stage because it was chaos front of stage - a mass of people. The only way I could get near was to climb into the lighting rigging. My favourite is Morrissey leaning into the audience with the bunch of flowers hanging out of his back pocket."

At the time, Stephen was a student at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University), having studied his BA in Economic History in Liverpool. "I started shooting bands for the student paper and it grew from there. The Haçienda had just opened and lots was happening in Manchester at the time. I saw The Smiths play at The Haçienda on the flower-throwing tour and was captivated - but could get nowhere near the front to take photos, sadly."

Rough Trade evidently liked Stephen's photos. "A while later Rough Trade asked me to do a session – an opportunity I was lucky to get. The Queen Is Dead was in the pipeline and if they suited, the photos could have been used for either sleeve or publicity. Unfortunately it was shot on a dark winter day in Salford which didn't help!" Utterly modest for someone who is responsible for one of the most famous, if not the most famous photo of The Smiths, Stephen says, "It's the band, not the photo, that's classic." As for what makes the photo so quintessentially Smithsian, "The rotten light and the casual pose help the photo have a relaxed nature." It doesn't seem posed, like so many band photos are.

But of course, it was. And it was all Morrissey's idea. "We started the session at the Salford Lads Club at Morrissey's request. He's a very clever man and I'm sure he knew what he wanted. Then we went to Victoria Station but it was just too dark there. Then we ended up in the Arndale Centre by default." Posing in a shopping centre garnered "a few mystified looks, but I've never been as keen on the photos there." It's now impossible to go on an escalator in the Arndale Centre without thinking The Smiths are crouching in a nearby flowerbed.

As we now know, Morrissey thought the photos were thoroughly delightful, and Stephen received "a proof for the album sleeve which the postman managed to bend up shoving it through the letterbox." There's something quite Smithsian even about that! It's just as well that Stephen likes The Queen Is Dead. "It's a lovely album that stands the test of time. Of all the bands at that time I think The Smiths are the most marvellous and reminiscent of the classic early Stones."

If you've been to the Salford Lads Club and have been lucky enough to actually venture inside (when I went, I was adopted by a nine-year old Johnny Depp fan who enthusiastically showed me round The Smiths Room), you'll know how friendly the folks are who run the place. However... "At the time the Salford Lads Club were far from amused with their club being used for the photo." But of course, this attitude has changed. "Years later I've got to meet some of the people at the club who are lovely people. They have kindly opened the club when I've done some photos of fans in aid of charity. I hope it’s given the club an additional element. The reality is that it's been there for a long time and gives a lot to the community as a meeting place with all sorts of sports and other benefits."

And what does Stephen think of all that posing fans do outside the Salford Lads Club? "I think it's just great that people will have fun and copy the photo with their friends. It’s all harmless fun and people come from all over the world, which is quite strange." Nowadays, Stephen does a lot of wedding photography, but is yet to take pictures of the sad veiled bride outside the Salford Lads Club, although "Last year I shot a wedding in Manchester. The groom was a big Smiths fan and the next morning we did some shoots at the Salford Lads Club – in jeans, not in their wedding gear!"

It’s not only that photo of The Smiths by Stephen that's iconic. When the band split up, NME used the photo of Morrissey and Johnny Marr talking apparently seriously on stage at BBC Manchester Oxford Road ("Whoops, I’ve dropped a plectrum in my trouser cuffs"?). How did Stephen feel about that? "It was sad to see the photo used as it marked the end of an era and of the greatest band of an era."

Stephen's life changed dramatically after Morrissey's patronage. Although he studied Personnel Management at Manchester Poly, he became a rock photographer, and now takes photos of all kinds. Photographers he admires are Anton Corbijn, Jane Bown, Andre Kertez and Cartier Bresson, and he'd like to photograph Pete Docherty, Gregory Isaacs and Lee Perry. While he likes speed of digital photography, "it's all too quick, less of a 'craft' and all too easily compared with shooting film and that's why at a similar time there has been an increase in interest in black and white images." His photographic subjects these days range from musicians to weddings, and are remarkable for capturing his subjects in a relaxed, unposed style, which is what made his photos of The Smiths so memorable. "In many ways I'd rather watch, observe and shoot, rather than dictate and pose people too much." He was inspired to become a photographer because "I love music and, whilst untrained, like art, especially portraits." And he seems to have more in common with Morrissey than sharing his first name (albeit with a different spelling). "I'm quite shy and a camera gives you the chance to be somewhere but have something to hide behind...."

To buy your very own prints of Stephen Wright's classic photos of The Smiths, please visit his website: www.smithsphotos.com.

These photos are used by kind permission of Stephen Wright. Please bear this in mind when you hotlink them onto your myspace. :-/ (that's me looking sad when people steal my bandwidth, and Stephen's pics are used unacknowledged).