Inside Bruce Springsteen's Rolling Stone Cover Shoot

This issue marks the Scottish photographer's 41st cover for Rolling Stone. His first, an iconic image of a snow-draped Jack Nicholson relaxing in Aspen, ran in 1981. "They wanted a strong direct cover — maybe not eye contact — something that's strong looking and very, very simple. Slightly heroic, you know?," Watson recalled, explaining the inspiration behind his current cover shot of Bruce Springsteen. "It's always a question — these guys… they're all getting older. You somehow have an image of them as 'Born to Run' and it's a different time. You always have to remember when you do a cover shot, you want everyone to maximize. You don't say, 'Let's make this guy look older.' "