By Ysabel Cacho
The documentary featured photographers Guy Webster, Henry Ditz, Bob Gruen, Edward Colver, Lynn Goldsmith, Jill Furmanovsky, Norman Seef, and Mark Seglier. Mary McCartney sat in for her late mother, Linda McCartney. Rock stars such as Debbie Harry, Noel Gallagher, Alice Cooper and Henry Rollins also made an appearance to talk about being the subjects in the photographs.
Like many rock ‘n roll concerts, the documentary was full of energy, adrenaline, and loud music. Although the documentary moved at an fast pace that left audiences wanting more, producer Steven Kochones managed to find the time to pay tribute to almost every photograph the rock ‘n roll generation grew up with.
The photographers talked how their craft “was like having a passport in people’s lives,” where the best places to shoot were and their relationships with the musicians.
“A photograph has power,” Goldsmith explained. Noel Gallagher of the band Oasis added that one single photograph could tell a person exactly how the band sounded.
The photographers also described the concert scene. They would tour along with the musicians and endure the drunken crowds in order to get the perfect shot. “One of the reasons why I’m still alive today is because I didn’t travel with them all the time,” Gruen explained as the documentary showed footage of him being mobbed by a sea of fans.
The documentary not only focused on the relationship between the photographers and their subjects, but how each decade has changed the photography. From the 1950s, which Ditz described as “embarrassing!,” to the experimentation of the ’60s, to the grunge and angst of the ’90s, the photographer would have to adapt to the variances of the genre.
At the end of the day, when the auditorium has emptied out, the bands have broken up, and the music stops, the images will always remain.
