84/365: Live Music is Better, Bumper Stickers should be issued.

Here's Jessica Lee Mayfield, aka Chittlin, at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill, NC, sometime last year.

Jim Marshall died yesterday. His book Not Fade Away was the first collection of photos I ever bought. I think at the time, the draw was the mythological music beings that were portrayed in the book, and less the picture themselves, but as photography has come to dominate my brain (and music has taken a back seat), I look at it now with awe at his mastery of craft. His ability to capture his subjects' personalities (many of them larger than life), be it through a timely moment or brief expression, was a thing of art. You may not know his name, but you've seen his pictures of Hendrix, Dylan, Clapton, Joplin, The Who, The Cream, the Beatles, etc etc. He put Rock and Roll on film, when it was really Rock and Roll, even as it was becoming that.

Marshall's images seem so intimate sometimes, it's as if he was best friends with every act he shot, even though reading his anecdotes, you know that wasn't the case every time. His live shots captured the moments that make live music photos work: the raised arm of Jimi as he bites his lip and bends 3 strings at once, Pete Townshend on his knees at dawn after playing half the night at Woodstock. You know that shot of the Allman Brothers in the alley with all their gear boxes on the Fillmore Album? Jim Marshall. That shot of Johnny Cash giving the finger at San Quentin Prison? Jim Marshall.

I have dabbled in music photography, at live shows and with bands I know personally through my own short musical career, and I've come away with some decent keepers, but I've never put enough time in to get the full hang of it. Someone who I think very much has is Mike Beyer, aka Crackerfarm. Mike is a really funny guy, and perhaps the most talented shooter I've ever met. Take a look at his stuff, especially his music images...he gets the essence of his subjects, and even though the images are less documentary and more art, the personalities carry through.

The posted shot was made on 35mm film, scanned in and dodged and burned. Gotta love the grain on that Ilford 3200.

-llg