Right Place, Right Time: The Life of a Rock & Roll Photographer

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Since 1980, Morrison Hotel Gallery has been the primary representative for Gruen's photography. His work is included in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. [9] I didn't think I was impaired. We kind of thought that was improving our performance. It was getting us in the mood. It was getting us to enjoy the feeling. Gruen was born and raised in New York. [1] After he dropped out of college and quit his job in a photo booth at the New York World's Fair in Queens, he attended the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and took photographs of Bob Dylan performing. [2] Bob was presented in June 2004 with MOJO Magazine’s prestigious Honours List Award for Classic Image in London and in November 2010 he was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. For his many charitable contributions, Bob received the first ever John Lennon Real Love Award in December 2014 at the 32nd Annual John Lennon Tribute Concert. Deeply embedded within the communities they photographed, both documented a pivotal era in music when the industry’s focus shifted from established stars like Elvis Presley and John Lennon, to up-and-coming punk bands like the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols. Capturing the raw intensity and excitement of an era of possibility where stardom felt within reach of anyone and everyone, Legendary Moments brings us a rare glimpse into the lives of larger-than-life figures, from the viewpoints of those who knew them best.

Since the brand's inception in 2017, D'Stassi Art has established a unique platform for the world's most inspiring emerging talent. In the traditionally exclusive art world, D'Stassi Art looks to discover, encourage and help introduce clients to works of art based purely on how passionate we are about them. The gallery has helped to introduce a variety of the art world's clientele to important contemporary artists through immersive and inclusive events. Each month, Alternative Press Gallery explores the work of photographers, directors and other creatives who help shape the music world from behind the scenes. With each issue, we explore the stories behind the shoots and take deep dives into the most compelling media, asking about the vision as well as the happy accidents that create some of the most powerful moments in music. Along the way, we talk to rising stars as well as legendary artists, all of whom work to construct a visual story of your favorite artists. CBs was a very comfortable place. Hilly Kristal [was] unlike a lot of club owners. He just wanted a bar where he could have a beer and watch television. That way, if he had a nice bar, there would be enough people to pay the rent and make a little money. That’s all he wanted. Marking Gruen’s first major exhibition in the UK since 2014, Legendary Moments will also see his first ever UK limited edition. In addition to these iconic prints, Gruen has collaborated with renowned printmaker Gary Lichtenstein on a new series of original screenprints, digitally printed on canvas for the exhibition, adding new dimension and texture to G ruen’s storied images. My style worked well with him. He and I would usually chat and make jokes while we worked. I would keep up a conversation and the pictures would inevitably become part of it. I think people are drawn to the New York City picture because John is so relaxed, open, and available.”On July 8, 1970, Gruen, then 24, caught the legendary R & B duo, Ike and Tina Turner, at the Honka Monica Club in New York and watched as Tina moved like a “whirling tornado” under the strobe light. Thinking on his feet, Gruen decided to open the camera for a one second exposure, and let Tina and the strobes do the rest. The result was a multiple exposure of Tina Turner that evokes the spirit of Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 painting, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. Two nights later, Gruen went out to New Jersey to see them perform again and showed the prints to graphic designer Judy Rosen, who in turn encouraged Gruen to show them to Ike. Since this covers a multitude of musicians, bands, and styles of music, the music / bands / musicians covered may – or may not – all appeal to every reader, but this is more about Gruen, and how he went from a young kid with an interest in photography to accompanying and / or photographing virtually every musician of note at one point in his career. Some of the photographs are ones I’d love a copy to put on my walls for the beauty of the photography, alone. His stories are epic, if sometimes crazily so, others heartbreaking, and his photographs always iconic. Lavish and beautiful, mirroring the deeply personal design of the original volume given to Yoko herself, See Hear Yoko brings into focus an extraordinary woman and one of the most memorable periods in modern history. Gruen's 1974 photo of John Lennon on a rooftop in New York City was later used for Lennon's memorial.

A.K.: At least you inspired people with his pictures. You captured some beautiful moments of your friend’s life. Well, I was kind of getting drunk in bars and she didn’t understand the point for a long time. You know, it didn’t really seem like an important job. It was hard to explain that I was capturing culture for future generations. Elton John on stage with legs in the air at Fillmore East, NYC. April 9, 1971. Photograph: Bob Gruen

BOOKS by Bob Gruen

John enjoyed having his picture taken. He knew how to do it and posing came naturally to him. He saw it as part of show business, which it very much is. A.K.: Your most known project was John Lennon. You’re known because of your iconic photos of John. You were with him in his last years with Yoko. Tell us about your relationship. You know, your time together before his untimely passing, what it was like to shoot him. Operating on that wisdom from his mother, Bob Gruen has become a man whose name nobody knows, but whose catalogue is familiar to millions. B.G.: My mother. She was an attorney, but her hobby was photography. She liked to develop and print out her own pictures. So when I was around four or five years old, she had built herself a dark room. She took me in and showed me how to develop and print photos. So by the time I was eight, I got my own camera.

The US government at that time was trying to throw John Lennon out. President Nixon was afraid of John, you know, he was a leader in the Antiwar movement. And so for preaching about peace, the government wanted to throw him out of the country. And I thought that the Statue of Liberty was a symbol of welcoming to the United States and that it would be a great symbol for his case. And I suggested it and I was very happy that he agreed with me, So we went and took the picture, which I feel is one of my most important pictures. A lot of people relate to John Lennon as a symbol of personal freedom, similar to the statue of Liberty. There was much less media and photography wasn’t something everyone could do. It required having a camera, which was an expensive piece of equipment, and knowing how to operate it, develop the pictures, get them done on time, and deliver them. There weren’t many photographers in the music business because there wasn’t much income – it wasn’t like the fashion business or advertising.” They gave it to me, I remember, I mean, I got a lot of presents, but the only one I remember opening was my first camera when I was eight years old. The Brownie Hawkeye camera. And so I started getting interested in photography, reading photography magazines, my main influence was Man Ray because he used to make photography an art form. I’ve always been very aware of trying to capture the moment and feelings. He does that so well, and I always thought of photography as an art form.Self-expression isn’t just what you say — it is also where and when you choose to tell the story. This can require you to travel off the beaten path and make a way for yourself. “To be independent, you wake up every day unemployed. It takes a lot to strike out on your own and not listen to your parents or get a job just because it’s comfortable and pays the rent — but to actually be in a situation where you can’t pay the rent and your phone gets cut off. But that’s okay because you’re pursuing what you want to do,” says Gruen, who started making and selling photos at the age of 11 while at summer camp. And then I had given him that T shirt, the New York City T shirt about one year earlier. So, when we were sitting there on the roof with the beautiful skyline all around us, I asked if he still had that shirt a and he knew which one I was talking about. So I knew he still had it with him. I knew he liked it and he knew where it was and he looked comfortable in it. We took the series of pictures. We had no idea at the time that it was going to become as popular as it did. It was just one more of many photos that we had taken, but that one seems to stand out. People really like it. B.G.: In a sense, I’m not really spending all my time thinking about the past, although, you know, it keeps coming up in the archive reminding me who’s this and who’s that in this picture and where was this picture taken and so on. But I don’t dwell on it. I tend to live in the present. It was fun, but I’m not going to do that again. Oh, she wasn’t just an influence – she actually taught me how and when to squeeze the buttons and how to print my pictures. She was also a lawyer, so she taught me about the business side of things, to think about my pictures after they were printed. At a very young age, early teens, even before – way before I took up photography – I had small home businesses, so I learned all about expenses, income, outgoings, losses and gains, and so on.” After touring with Iggy, Leee concentrated on his photography and seemed content to continue documenting the Downtown scene, until Johnny Thunders who recently formed the Heartbreakers insisted he manage them. Although the band had a bad heroin habit, Leee proved to be a successful manager, securing them a good record deal and ensuring the band never missed a gig during the two and a half years he managed them. Importantly, managing the Heartbreakers put him at the very centre of the emerging UK punk scene, when Malcolm McLaren called from London and invited Leee to bring the band over to join the Sex Pistols on the infamous and historic Anarchy Tour. Of course, Leee didn’t forget his camera and his shots of the tour and the Sex Pistols are shot from an insider’s view as he was himself an important part of it.