The sixties are alive and well represented at the Montreal Jazz Festival this year, if not necessarily in music. An exhibition of photographs from that colorful era by Baruch alumnus Elliott Landy (’64) are on display at the festival’s Galerie Lounge TD through Dec. 24, 2010. More than 65 prints—some never shown before—will be included, as well as Looped, a video projection of impressionist renderings made with Woodstock Festival and Jimi Hendrix images. These spectacular colorized superimpositions were created with an application Landy designed himself.

Landy began his career in photography in the late 1960s by documenting the anti–Vietnam War movement and underground music scene in New York. The latter led to photographing such luminaries as Janis Joplin, The Band, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan, among many others. (Landy’s best-known work is probably the cover photo of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album.) In 1969 Landy took what was perhaps his most important gig: official photographer at Woodstock. His experiences at the festival are captured in his 1994 book Woodstock Vision: The Spirit of a Generation.

Landy’s work has been featured in several galleries and museums worldwide. In 2007 the Whitney Museum’s Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era exhibition prominently featured several of his images, including the Nashville Skyline cover, which graced the show’s poster/program.

Aside from musicians, Landy has photographed his children and travels and has created a series of impressionist flower images. His pictures have been featured on the covers of various publications as well as album covers and calendars.

From Baruch Alumni Magazine website.

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.

Click to view video.

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

Magnumphotos.com

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’.

Read the full article here.

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

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.

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.

Elliott Landy, one of the foremost music photographers of the Woodstock generation, will release a new book of photos of The Band.

Even if you don’t know Elliott Landy by name, you’ll undoubtedly recognize the photographs for which he is famous. Born in 1942, Landy was the official photographer of the Woodstock Music Festival, and his images of festivalgoers and performers like Joan Baez, Johnny Winter, and Janis Joplin have helped to sustain Woodstock in the imagination of melomaniacs ever since. His naturalistic portraits of music legends like Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison offer an exceptional proximity to icons who might seem otherwise unreachable. He is often credited as one of the first photographers to raise music photography to the stratum of fine art.

A large portion of Landy’s portfolio comprises images of The Band—the five-piece ensemble who backed Bob Dylan and later went on to record hits like “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”—right here in the Hudson Valley. His latest monograph, The Band Photographs, 1968-1969, published in 2016, was the highest-funded photobook in the history of Kickstarter, a “crowdfunding platform focused on creativity.” Now, Landy is raising money to support the publication of a second book of never-before-seen images from his stint photographing The Band.

Read the full article at HVMag.com

Veteran rock photographer readies another tresure trove of unpublished pictures.

When you picture The Band, you have Elliott Landy’s photographs in your mind. He took the legendary photos in their 1968 album, Music From Big Pink and The Band, their self-titled 1969 album. But there’s more where those came from. A whole lot more — which he’s about to release in The Band Photographs Volume 2.

Elliott Landy took some of the most iconic photographs in rock ’n’ roll history. He was the official photographer at the 1969 Woodstock festival. His portraits of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison are on the covers of Nashville Skyline and Moondance, respectively. His work has been featured in major magazines. exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide for over 50 years. He has published 12 books devoted exclusively to his photographs.

In 2015, Landy published The Band Photographs, 1968-1969 with the help of Kickstarter. It became the highest-funded music photography book in the site’s history. Now, Landy has launched another Kickstarter campaign to publish The Band Photographs Volume 2.

The Band have become one of the most celebrated groups in rock ’n’ roll history: For their own groundbreaking work, for their integral role in Bob Dylan’s development and for the all-star concert film The Last Waltz. The fertile period of 1968-69 — which produced Big Pink, The Band and The Basement Tapes — is steeped in mystery and has been subject to countless articles, essays and books. But other than the music itself, only Landy’s photographs bring it to life. (more…)

Capturing images of a unique group of musicians as they created their own genre of music.

Elliott Landy is the photographer who will be forever associated with Woodstock. One of the first music photographers to be recognised for his art, he is associated with some of the most iconic photos of the biggest acts of the 60s and early 70s. In particular, he is known for his photos of Dylan and his group of backing musicians that came to be known as The Band. In 2016 he published a volume of his photos of The Band, ‘The Band Photographs 1968–1969’. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign, it became the  highest funded photographic book in Kickstarter history. Now he’s back with a new Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of a second volume of photographs from the same period. Photos that he hadn’t realised he still had until he discovered some stray boxes in his studio. The Kickstarter campaign closes on the 7th April and all information can be found here.

I know you’ve been asked this many times, but I’m going to ask it again anyway. How did you get into all this in the first place? You didn’t set out to be a music photographer, did you. Didn’t you want to, originally, do more reportage.

Yeah. So it was 1967 and I wanted to do something to help stop the Vietnam War. And my first thought was I’ll go to Vietnam, take pictures and show how bad war is. And my second thought is, I don’t want to be killed. I don’t want to be in a war. So I got the idea to photograph the peace demonstrations that were going on in New York City. And very often there would be a demonstration in Manhattan that was a fair size, and the New York Times would give it two inches in the middle of the newspaper and without any pictures at all. So, basically, there was no significant coverage of it or what the demonstrators were saying about the war. So, I started to do that. And the mainstream media was not interested in photographs of peace demonstrations, it got very little coverage. I went to the so-called underground newspapers and there was one called the New York Free Press, and another one was called The Rat. And I began working as a photo editor for The Rat. We photographed peace demonstrations and abortion rights demonstrations. And one evening when I had gotten finished with the paper, the office was on Seventh Street, off Second Avenue. I was walking along Second Avenue and I see a theater marquee that says, Country Joe and the Fish with Light Show. And I thought, what is that? What is Country Joe and the Fish? And what is the light show? But I had no idea really. So, I went over to the box office and I heard this incredible music coming out of the theater.

Read the full article here: Americana.uk.com

Elliott Landy on photographing The Band

By Sam Richards at uncut.co.uk

In the May 2023 issue of Uncut – in shops now – you can see some exclusive, unseen Elliott Landy photos of The Band from across his various sessions with the group as they fashioned their unique and influential sound up in Woodstock at the tail-end of the 1960s. The pictures are taken from Landy’s forthcoming second volume of The Band Photographs 1968-69; you can sign up for the Kickstarter campaign or pre-order the book here.

You’ll have to buy the magazine to see all the pictures, but here’s a longer version of our interview with Elliott about the new book.

Was there a particular discovery that prompted you to put together a second volume of Band photographs?

One day I was looking through the boxes of seconds from the selections we made for the first book, and I saw so many pictures in there that I couldn’t believe were not in the first book, because they were so fabulous. They were some of my favorite photographs. I said, ‘Wow, why didn’t we use this one, or this one?’ Of course the reason was that we had 160 pages, and I like full-page photographs. So we didn’t really have room for as many photographs in the first book as deserved to be in there.

Did you meet The Band for the first time at Big Pink?

Actually the first session was when I went up to Canada to photograph their families. They wanted to include a picture of their relatives in the [Music From Big Pink] album, as a way of saying thank you for helping us our whole lives. And then a few weeks after that, I went up to the house they called Big Pink, which was in West Saugerties, New York, in the area of Woodstock – just down the road from where I live now, by chance. There’s some great pictures in that first shoot, but they didn’t see one that they felt was a cover, so I went back a second time, [by which point] they were no longer in Big Pink. I guess they got their advance from the record label and instead of living in one house, they got two larger places. (more…)

I liked going out with girls, and I liked taking pictures, so which one do I wanna make money from?

Thanks to advancements in recording technology throughout the years, along with the amazing ability to carry our music collection with us, we can hear the history behind the music at the drop of a hat in a number of different ways, but the magic of musical movements is never only isolated to the music itself.

Rather, the great moments in music are often defined by incredibly detailed aesthetics and how these aesthetics relate to political and social contexts.

This is why being able to see music history is almost as essential as being able to hear it. And when it comes to what is arguably the most significant development in modern music, we owe one man, in particular, a huge debt of gratitude… Mr. Elliott Landy.

One of the first music photographers to ever be referred to as an “artist”, Elliott Landy’s documentation of music culture in the 60s and beyond was and still is of crucial importance.

Yet, as the man behind the camera, he doesn’t get nearly enough attention, which is why, today, I’ll be shining the spotlight on him for a change.

Shutterbug Beginnings

Landy was born in 1942 somewhere in the USA. No information more specific than that is readily available, but as he graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, we can assert two things with relative certainty.

1. He was born either in or around the Bronx borough or otherwise moved to the area at a young age — His thick New York accent in interviews backs this theory up.
2. He was an incredibly gifted child.

See, the BHSoS is no ordinary high school; it’s a specialist school that accepts only 800 of 30,000 applicants each year, celebrates seven Pulitzer Prize-winning alumni, and currently holds the world record for the most Nobel Prize-winning alumni (eight, if you’re wondering).

So, yeah… little Landy must have been something of a prodigy.

After graduating, Elliott landed a spot in The Baruch College affiliated with the City University of New York.

What he studied during his time in college is unknown, but whatever qualification he received upon graduation didn’t pan out in his favor at first, as he ended up accepting a dead-end office job.

Read the full article on the Rocks Off Magazine Site 

Janis Joplin is the subject of a new book, Photographs of Janis Joplin On the Road & On Stage. The 196-page book features iconic images of the music legend as well as 100 never-before-published photos, all from acclaimed photographer Elliott Landy. The title was released on March 15, 2022, in the U.S. and May 1 in the U.K.

The photographs are accompanied by Joplin’s candid thoughts taken from conversations and interviews recorded by David Dalton, a founding editor of Rolling Stone, while on tour with Janis in 1970. Landy’s photographs portray Joplin’s public and private lives, offering an intimate behind-the-scenes glance at her brief yet groundbreaking years of fame.

The hardcover book measures 10×10 inches, beautifully printed on heavyweight paper with 129 photos.

Landy notes: “I photographed Janis in 1968 and 1969 and over the years I’ve used maybe 15 or 20 of the photographs in various publications. Until I began putting this book together I didn’t realize how many other great photos I had. We looked at every negative and slide I took of her. The text was selected from extensive recordings of conversations and interviews with Janis made by David Dalton during the last year of her life. We matched her words with my photographs to provide a personal insight into her life and career, creating a unique look at Janis.”

Read the full article on bestclassicbands.com.

The personality difference in Elliott Landy’s pictures of Janis Joplin is dramatic, to say the least. In live concert shots, pulsating with the saturated psychedelic colors of a light show swirling around her, she’s a DayGlo dynamo, burning brightly like a carnival fireworks display.

But in monochromatic moments, those little alone times backstage, sad and lost in thought, perhaps nursing a cup of tea in a diner or waiting for a ride to the next show, she’s someone else; perhaps the little girl blue she sang about. But which is the real Janis Joplin, the searing performer shredding her soul before the audience or the wounded waif buried behind it all? It’s something to contemplate while gazing at Photographs of Janis Joplin: On the Road & On Stage (Backbeat Books), the legendary Woodstock photographer’s beautiful new book of images of the rock icon.

“The first time I saw Janis perform was with [her then band] Big Brother and the Holding Company, at the Anderson Theater on Second Avenue on the Lower East Side, on February 17, 1968,” recalls Landy, who had previously been a paparazzi-style photographer for celebrity magazines and was then working for underground New York paper The Rat. “It was one of the first rock ’n’ roll concerts I saw, and my second one at the Anderson—I’d seen Country Joe and the Fish there, two weeks earlier—and it’s still one of the most powerful concerts I’ve ever seen.”

Read the full article at chronogram.com.

Listen to “Episode 62 | Elliott Landy [“Photographs of Janis Joplin: On the Road & On Stage”]” on Spreaker.

Celebrated music photographer Elliott Landy recently released his latest book featuring Port Arthur-born Janis Joplin.

Landy’s work has been recognized for decades. His photos of rock music legends and icons include being the official photographer of Woodstock 1969, album covers for Van Morrison, The Band, famous photos of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and more.

“Photographs of Janis Joplin On The Road & On Stage” by Elliott Landy features 129 photos, including 100 previously unpublished.

Accompanied by her own words from recorded interviews by David Dalton of Rolling Stone, the hardcover edition is 10-by-10 inches and includes 196 pages.

Photographs of Janis Joplin On the Road & On Stage by Elliott Landy features candid photos of the ground-breaking blues/rock chanteuse in her public and private lives.

Janis’ candid thoughts from from conversations and interviews recorded by David Dalton, a founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine, while on tour with Janis in 1970.

Read the full article on PANews.com

by Cindy Grogan at CultueSonar

From her grinning, feather-draped Pearl album cover to iconic live shots, there are certain images of Janis Joplin seared into our collective memory. She burned hot and flamed out fast at 27. But beyond her status as a legend, Janis was a very real, very complex woman. Photographer Elliott Landy got a chance to see a different side of Joplin over two years.  His new book, Photographs of Janis Joplin On the Road and On Stage, showcases over 100 never-before-seen photos of the rock icon. Additionally, David Dalton, a founding editor of Rolling Stone, conducted interviews with Joplin during a 1970 tour; those candid thoughts accompany the photos, giving some new insight into this rock icon.

Landy states, “I photographed Janis in 1968 and 1969 and over the years I’ve used maybe 15 or 20 of the photographs in various publications. Until I began putting this book together I didn’t realize how many other great photos I had. We looked at every negative and slide I took of her. The text was selected from extensive recordings of interviews with Janis made by David Dalton during the last year of her life. We matched her words with my photographs to provide a personal insight into her life and career, creating a unique look at Janis.”

Read the full article on culture sonar.com.

by Greg Brodsky

Lensman talks about his years shooting the group; his book features images from his 12,000 photos

Fans of The Band – and if you’re reading this, we’re obviously preaching to the choir – will absolutely love their recent album. That’s photograph album. Elliott Landy: The Band Photographs 1968-1969 is a stunning collection from the man who chronicled the highly influential rock group with over 12,000 images. The book features hundreds of pictures including many never-before-published. (more…)

When Grace Slick turned 80 years old on October 30, 2019, we asked our friend, photographer Elliott Landy, for a special image of the classic rock legend. And did he come through! What you see is his stunning photo of the then-29-year-old Slick watching the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in August, 1969.*

Landy’s iconic images of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and The Band are featured on their album covers, and his work has appeared on the covers of numerous magazines, from Rolling Stone to Life to Saturday Evening Post. (more…)

For a few years, beginning in the late Sixties, Elliott Landy photographed many of the biggest names in what is now referred to as classic rock. His iconic images of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and The Band are featured on their album covers and his work has appeared on the covers of numerous magazines, from Rolling Stone to Life to Saturday Evening Post. He was the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock Music & Arts Festival. Clapton. Hendrix. Baez. The Who. Joplin. In the late Sixties, Landy photographed them and many more. (more…)

One of the most striking images of Bob Dylan—who celebrates his 80th birthday on May 24, 2021—was only seen by a handful of people until decades later. It’s the now-famous “Infrared” photo taken by renowned music photographer Elliott Landy at Dylan’s home in Woodstock, New York, in the summer of 1968, when the artist was taking time off, at age 27, just to be with his family. (more…)

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’ 

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’. (more…)

Elliott Landy is considered one of the first music photographers to be recognised as an artist. He joins me now to talk about his recent collection, Photographs of Janis Joplin: On the Road & On Stage. It’s published by Backbeat Books. They feature photographs taken by Mr. Landy, as well as Joplin’s own words taken from recorded interviews she gave with David Dalton. They serve as extended captions to the photographs, and provide such marvelous insight about Joplin as an artist and a person. (more…)

Janis Joplin & Sam Andrew, Albert Grossman’s office, NYC, 1968. © Elliott Landy/LandyVision

While the world still struggles to deal with a pandemic that seems like it will never end, we have all had to deal with so much hardship, tragedy, broken businesses, and a whole lot more to which we could all write stories about. Yet, in trying to stay positive in some sort of way we could look at the pandemic and find that there are some consequences that are not all bad. As many artists from musicians, songwriters, journalists, authors, photographers, and many others discovered, having a lot of free time in quarantine resulted in taking a look around the basement, up in the attic, and even rummaging through those boxes tucked away in the back of closets. So many people had more free time than they had ever had in their life. (more…)