Jim Marshall: Show Me the Picture makes Fast Company's August 2019 creative calendar.
Read the full article at fastcompany.com.
From Billboard:
One of the most iconic photographers of the rock era with an eye for bringing out the humanity in oft-mysterious stars, Jim Marshall was the chief photographer at Woodstock, shot the Beatles' final ticketed concert and captured one of the most beloved Bob Dylan photos of all time. Amelia Davis' new book, Jim Marshall: Show Me the Picture, includes legendary shots and some previously unseen photos from the late talent.
Read the full review at billboard.com.
From Literary Hub
Book Excerpt: Essay by Michelle Margetts
"The most over-the-top festival for social impact, size of crowd, quality of vibe, and quantity of mud, plus nausea-inducing porta-potties, was the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair. It was held on 600 or so acres leased from Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near Bethel, New York (more than 40 miles southwest of Woodstock, New York; I guess the “Bethel Festival” just didn’t have the right ring to it). The Woodstock festival was three days of cultural and musical experimentation, melded with a very, very heavy dose of, well, doses."
Read the full essay at lithub.com.
A photo review of selected images of "Jim Marshall: Show Me the Picture."
Read more at rollingstone.com.
From Huck
By Miss Rosen
Jim Marshall’s images have become a visual diary of the rebellious and revolutionary spirit of the genre.
Throughout his illustrious career, American photographer Jim Marshall(1936-2010) defined the look of rock and roll. His images helped turned the genre into a revolutionary movement which went against the oppressive power structure of the status quo.
“Jim was a very complicated man and anybody who knew him either hated him or loved him,” says Amelia Davis, Marshall’s longtime assistant. She is also the editor of Jim Marshall: Show Me the Picture – Images and Stories from a Photography Legend (Chronicle Books), a masterful compendium of the photographer’s life designed to complement the documentary film, Show Me the Picture: The Story of Jim Marshall.
“He had a rough exterior,” she continues. “He was a drug-addicted, drinking, gun-toting guy. But when you look at these photographs you see humanity in Jim, because he wouldn’t be able to take those photos if he didn’t have that inside of him.”
Born in Chicago to immigrant parents who identified as Assyrian, Marshall’s family moved to San Francisco when he was a baby. Soon after, his father left and Marshall began to fend for himself. A self-taught photographer, Marshall bought his first Leica in 1959 and went into North Beach and the Filmore District to photograph the jazz scene.
The Charlatans playing at the Summer of Love concert in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 1967
The Who outside their hotel in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, 1967
“Jim developed his own style. He was able to learn his equipment and he knew it so well that it was an extension of himself,” Davis says. “He loved natural light. He hated artificial light. He liked to capture people in their environment with their guard down.”
When the Haight-Asbury counterculture scene took off in the mid-60s, Marshall was poised to document the era from the beginning to end. Whether travelling with Joan Baez while she joined in the trial runs for the March of Washington, or with the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1972 tour, Marshall had an innate sense that something was going to happen – and that he had to be there.
“He didn’t know what but he had his camera with him and he was able to document it all,” Davis says. “A writer has his notebook and his pen. A musician has their instrument and that’s how they communicate their voice. Jim communicated with his camera. That was his instrument and that’s the way he was able to communicate these feelings to the world.”
Whether accompanying Johnny Cash for his landmark performance at the San Quentin State Prison or hanging out with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, Marshall was an integral part of the scene. His photographs have become visual diary of the rebellious spirit of rock and roll at the height of the Civil Rights and Women’s Liberation Movements, fully embodying the ethos of free love.
“With Jim’s photos I don’t feel like a voyeur, I feel like a participant,” Davis says. “You feel like you can step into that frame and experience it with them at that moment. That’s what separates Jim from a lot of other photographers. You are a piece of that moment.”
Read more at huckmag.com.