Alexander Shulgin, in his lab
Where to start? This is Alexander Shulgin, in his lab. Shulgin has a cult following because he developed a number of psychoactive drugs and is credited with rediscovering and reintroducing MDMA (Molly, Ecstasy) to the modern world. You can see modern YouTube videos of his lab in Lafayette, CA featuring the space cleaned up and sanitized after his death. However, when I shot this for a Swiss magazine in 2005, they had no intention of showing him in a glowing light. The place was a mess complete with rat droppings, open and broken jars, chemicals and dust strewn everywhere. Hollywood could not have created an uglier, F-ed up scene. And the smell. Yet, he seemed so proud of this space, this 'science lab.'