Rock and roll won the hearts of most music lovers on the planet in the middle of the 20th century. This enchanting appearance in the world of music has not bypassed the attention of photographers. In this article, I decided to introduce you to the thematic works of famous rock photographers that caught my attention.
Location: Kansas City, USA
Henry Diltz began his creative career first as a backing musician with The Monkees and Neil Young. He often came to rock concerts organized in Laurel Canyon in Hollywood as a fan with a camera in his hands in the 60s and 70s. Being a simple amateur photographer, his career skyrocketed due to his innate talent, sincere love for music and photography, as well as the great demand for such shots.
Perhaps his most recognizable work is the cover of The Doors’ album The Morrison Hotel. It became the hallmark of this rock and roll photographer and now this album is often called the same as the SoHo gallery. It is located in New York and Henry is its co-founder. If you’re interested in his work, visit this gallery to enjoy his pictures, as well as other amazing works.
Location: London, GB
Among all the famous concert photographers, many know the Ross Halfin name. Intending to become an artist, he entered the Wimbledon School of Art in the 1970s as a fine arts student. However, this was not destined to come true, and after dropping out of education, he attended concerts of his favorite bands with a camera at hand and just did what he loved.
His career blossomed in the 1970s in the time of the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and in 1981 he co-founded the cult magazine Kerrang!. His portfolio is full of the most iconic photos of the time, however the most famous is the one that graced the cover of the very first issue of Kerrang! magazine depicting AC/DC’s Angus Young. After this resounding success, he became a frequent touring companion for the most famous rock bands, Metallica and KISS to name a few.
Location: New Jersey, USA
The second most mentioned famous band photographer was Danny Clinch, but until the 1990s he was not the most well-known music festival photography artist. However, at the end of that era, the concert producers of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen contacted him, and this gave a new impetus to his career. His portfolio is full of cult personalities in the world of music, among which it is easy to find Tupac Shakur, Willie Nelson, and many more favorites of the public.
Quite atmospheric is a photo shoot taken at a Metallica concert in the San Quentin prison. Clinch himself, recalling this experience, said that the prison guards gave them agreements that said that if any of them were taken hostage, they were not going to participate in this.
Location: Beverly Hills, USA
Among the best music photographers, it is impossible not to mention Brad Elterman – an avid fan of all Hollywood punk concerts of the 70-80s. His breathtaking shots tell the stories of the powerful concerts of The Runaways, Blondie and The Ramones, and even Abba and Kenny Rogers, who do not belong much to the world of rock music. This famous photographer gained particular popularity thanks to the publication of his work on the covers of such iconic magazines as Rolling Stone, Circus Magazine, and other fashion and music magazines.
The key to Elterman’s success lies in his sense of humor and love for his idols. He is persistent and ambitious, as evidenced by the story that happened to him in the 70s. He wasn’t permitted to film David Bowie, but that didn’t stop him. He set up a real ambush near the rock star’s studio to get these pictures. Now that he is not limited in access to world musicians, he implements the most daring solo artists and band photo ideas, and in his portfolio, you can see Miley Cyrus, Tokyo Hotel, MGK, and many other contemporary stars.
Location: London, GB
Since the beginning of the 70s, this rock photographer has been delighting fans of heavy music with amazing pictures of their idols. His works depict such world rock stars as The Stooges, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and many other celebrities. Even if you’re hearing Mick Rock’s name for the first time, you’ve probably seen his pictures on the cover of The Stooges’ album “Raw Power” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. What’s more, he was popular as the head photographer for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Mick Rock’s talent has contributed to the shape of rock and roll culture, so his works are distributed both at world exhibitions and adorn the albums of the most famous stars and bands. You must have seen pictures of David Bowie dressed up as Ziggy Stardust. It was Rock who took them, being the official photographer of the rock star.
Location: Strijen, Netherlands
Perhaps, the most recognizable in this list of famous rock photographers is Anton Corbijn from Holland. Now he directs music videos for rock stars, but he started his career as a photographer in the 1970s. His most successful clips were “One” for the rock band U2 and “Heart-Shaped Box” for Nirvana. What’s more, a Director’s Label DVD was dedicated to him for these achievements.
However, Anton did not stop there either, making his first feature film in 2007 called “Control” about the rock band Joy Division. In terms of photography, his models have included celebrities such as Ian Curtis, Tom Waits, and David Byrne. Corbijn shot in both color and B/W, but it was the latter type of shot that viewers found to be especially atmospheric with its own unique vibe.
Due to his preference for a conceptual approach to photography, he was invited to shoot and design album covers for U2 and Depeche Mode for about 30 years. This is a truly talented and first-class artist, and his iconic works can be listed endlessly, but the photo from U2’s “The Joshua Tree” became his hallmark.
Location: Longview, USA
This famous band photographer was born in the Pacific Northwest, so it was the Seattle grunge culture and the Sub Pop label that became his guide to success in the 80s and 90s. He was lucky enough to be one of the first to film Nirvana and other amazing bands at their concerts – Mudhoney and Alice in Chains to name a few. Charles Peterson then began to expand his horizons and interests, covering everything from war game players to Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Istanbul.
He also released a series of interesting books and even a separate one about Pearl Jam. If you are interested in his work in the era of grunge concerts, then take a closer look at Touch Me I’m Sick. There is a bunch of pictures that the world has not seen before.
Location: San Francisco, USA
The career of this rock and roll photographer began the same way as many others – he just went to his favorite concerts with a camera in hand. Having first photographed The Grateful Dead in 1978, he was already touring with the Deadheads as their photographer in the 1980s. The material collected during this period was enough for a whole book of photographs, which Jay Blakesberg released in 2002.
In 1987, he began a fruitful collaboration with Rolling Stone magazine, for which Blakesberg completed more than three hundred works in total, in addition to working with other publications and studios. He then continued his career as a director and producer of music festival videos. His portfolio includes amazing work for Lollapalooza, Summer Camp Festival, and Mountain Jam.
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Among all the famous concert photographers, Jenny Lens is one of the most eccentric artists of the early era of punk culture in North America and London. What’s more, she achieved incredible success in what was then considered a “male” field of activity, photographing Germs for the first time.
You may know her for the infamous Debbie Harry shot that exposed some of her body, for which she was subsequently prohibited from photographing the entire group. Another sensation was the photo of the naked Captain Sensible. They later made a button out of it, which was loved by the fans of this rock band.
She became a staple of West Coast punk culture, earning the nickname “the girl with the camera eye” from Patti Smith herself. Through her work, she has raised the bar in rock photography and immortalized the images of Darby Crash with her crazy performances and Dee Dee Ramone, who is completely obsessed with the music he creates.
Location: London, GB
This is another woman who has become one of the best music photographers. She made her breakthrough by filming a big Led Zeppelin concert tour. Subsequently, her portfolio was replenished with the most iconic personalities of that time – The Who, the Jam, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, and a huge list of popular rock bands.
She worked as a staff photographer for NME in the 80s and was primarily into black-and-white photography. The hallmark of her work was the photo of Paul Simonson, where he breaks his guitar, which graced the cover of “London’s Calling?”.
This iconic photo shows a rock band outside King’s Cross/St Pancras station in London, with West Ham graffiti in the background. Later, already on the cover of Sandinista! LP it has been removed. The photo was taken right after filming the “The Call Up” video, in which Mick Jones wore this helmet, and still wears it.
