If a picture is worth 1000 words, these photos are were three times that. Elliot Landy has spent his life photographing some of the biggest musical artists on the planet. He was one of the sole photographers at Woodstock to get stage access. Now, Elliot will be sharing his collection of photos of Janis Joplin with you! Join us for our interview and this one-of-a-kind episode of rock ‘n’ roll heaven.
Hear Elliott talk about his appearance at The Palace Danbury on Saturday, February 22 in accompaniment to the film Once Were Brothers, Robbie Robertson and The Band. Over 130 of Elliott’s photos of The Band are used in the film.
The Art of Legendary Photographer Elliott Landy: Capturing Woodstock, Bob Dylan, and The Band.
By: Rick Landers
During the late Sixties, a young Elliott Landylanded the gig of a lifetime – Woodstock (1969).
Asked to photograph the spirited three-day gathering of “Peace and Music”, Elliott worked out an “all access” entry that allowed him free rein to memorialize the largest rock festival of all time.
Loaded up with canisters of film, Elliott worked his way backstage, up front and around some of the top artists of the day, including: Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, Country Joe and the Fish, Canned Heat…and more.
Roaming through his book, Woodstock Vision: The Spirit of a Generation, we’re gifted with images of Woodstock that capture moments of festival performers and staffers, and expansive crowds that filled the bucolic landscape. The book also includes more casual images of some artists of formidable talent, as well as striking confrontational photos of protesters and police.
The book historically informs, couching within its pages an array of musician heroes, like Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Frank Zappa, Doc Watson, Joan Baez, and of course, Bob Dylan and The Band. Inside Fillmore East, NYC, Elliott catches The Who, a group both strident and destructive in performance, and low key, nearly sedate, in more relaxed settings.
And the book’s story line weaves a path, taking us along to join him and it’s stunning in its reach, whether he’s at a Beatles’ press conference, looking up at the masterful folk-jazz-fusion master, Tim Buckley, or harnessing the energy of the legendary Pete Seeger, under some hot klieg-lights. Folkies get touching, poignant photos of Mimi Farina and Joan Baez, a phalanx of performers at The Newport Folk Festival that include: Arlo Guthrie, Alan Lomax, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and more.
Read the full article on guitar international.com
Magnumphotos.com
Proselytizing a New Way to Be Free: Elliott Landy’s Music Photography
The photographer reflects on making images of iconic figures, experiments with infrared color film, and how publishing images of a new generation of musicians was a way to ‘get people to come out of the old way of being’
The above image by Landy is now available – for the first time ever – as a limited edition 8×10″ Magnum stamped print. You can see all images available in this new collection and learn more about the 8X10″ Magnum Editions prints here, on the Magnum Shop.
Elliott Landy, among the first music photographers whose work crossed into the art world, was one of the most prolific photographers of the 1960s’ music and youth scenes. Having started out documenting anti-Vietnam War protests, Landy photographed the seminal Woodstock ‘69 festival (he was an official photographer of it) which he described as ‘a moment of perfect human interaction.’ The photographer made some of the best-known images of musical icons like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin amongst others – often employing radical approaches like the use of infrared film stock. Here Landy discusses photographing the famous, experimenting with technical innovations, and not seeing making images as ‘a job’.
KWMR Radio Interview with Elliott
An Interview with Elliott Landy by Julie Motz on on her show, Art’s Desire. Broadcast on KWMR, Marin County Public radio, California. April 21, 2016. Elliott Talks about three of his books, one as yet unpublished. Woodstock Vision, The Sprit of a Generation; The Band Photographs, 1968-1969; and the unpublished collaboration with his wife Lynda, Love At Sixty
FotoTV
Legendary photographer Elliott Landy photographed many of the underground rock and roll superstars, both backstage and onstage, from 1967 to 69. His images of Bob Dylan and The Band, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Joan Baez, Van Morrison, Richie Havens, and many others documented the music scene during that classic rock and roll period which culminated with the 1969 Woodstock Festival, of which he was the official photographer. In this exclusive FotoTV film Landy discusses the underground music culture in New York City in the late 1960’s and how it has affected him and his stellar career. With his memorable and insightful photographs he helped define the Woodstock Era with intimate images of some of the greatest music legends of the Sixties at home and in concert