Ross Halfin is a world-renown photographer. From Wikipedia:Ross Halfin (b. 1958) is one of the world's top English music and travel photographers. Having shot bands such as Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, KISS, Metallica, The Who, Rob Zombie, ZZ Top and many others, Halfin's images are widely published in magazines, newspapers and books.
Halfin began his career as a freelance photographer for Sounds Magazine in the 1970s, where he befriended upcoming Heavy Metal acts like Def Leppard and Iron Maiden, who he would go on to photograph extensively. Halfin continued his career shooting for many years for UK rock magazine Kerrang! and other high-profile UK magazines such as Q, Classic Rock and many others around the world.
He is also funny as all hell, and thankfully keeps a Web diary of all of his photo shoots and happenings month to month and day to day. It's a great read and I am still poring over previous months and years of posts in all my free time (ha). Check it out for yourselves but here are some nuggets:
October 20 post - Speaking of bass players, spoke to Andy Curran, ex-bassist of Coney Hatch and AR type person for Rush's management. I may go to Italy next week to taste the honeydew and drink the milk of paradise.
October 2 post - Spent nearly the whole of today shooting Jimmy Page for various things - magazines and beauty products. Felt quite exhausted at the end. But what I find more exhausting are the wankers who keep emailing me wanting Led Zeppelin information. Prime example is the arsehole who goes by the name Hurtin Kind. It will be a pleasure if I ever meet him to hurt him and I wouldn't be kind...
August 21 post - Went to see The Rolling Stones with my mates Wilf Wright and Barry Drinkwater at the O2 Arena. I wasn't really in the mood for rock and roll, which was a good thing as they were as far removed from rock and roll as possible. They were dire - words fail me... Mick Jagger tried hard and worked the stage but the sound was terrible, the lights production were a cross between an MTV video and a Las Vegas revue. There was no camaraderie on stage, it was lifeless. A bit like an old folks fashion show - there seemed to be more costume changes than in a Madonna concert... The best song was James Brown's I'll Go Crazy, they butchered their own songs. It reminded me of a pub singalong on New Years Eve, dreadful. And the crowd was like being stuck with 22,000 bank managers on a night out. It was fucking awful.
October 10 post - During the intermission [Rush show] I hear what sounds like chanting. I look round to find Paul "Gooner" Elliott falling drown drunk singing to himself standing next to an embarrassed Dave Everley (Q Magazine features editor) with a "help me" look on on his face. As I try to talk to Dave, Paul interrupts slurring the words to The Trees. All around there is a smell of Guinness and whiskey pervading the air. 'Top of the morning,' slurs a voice - it's Paul Brannigan. 'I'm having a night off.' Off what, I wonder. 'Me and Paul have come to see Machine Head.' By now both his eyeballs are going in different directions, a bit like a slot machine. Paul's face is also bright red. 'Do you like Rush?' I ask. Paul looks baffled. 'Who...?' I go and shoot the second half of the show. Lots of pyro and the highlight for me is looking up at the stands during Spirit Of The Radio seeing Paul Elliott playing air guitar with Paul Brannigan passed out next to him, and a forlorn Dave Everley telling Paul to sit down. The one thing people seem to miss about Rush is that they are a good rock band. They are always good. Not some form of art rock. I came home at midnight and played 2112...
There are YEARS of posts. I placed the link in my 'links' section on this blog. Bookmark and enjoy...
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