Although I have some albums with Gered Mankowitz covers, including Kate Bush’s ‘Lionheart’ and he is probably best know for his cover for the Rolling Stones album ‘Between the Buttons’, his live work was something that I was largely introduced to when he had an exhibition of his Rolling Stones photos at the Proud Gallery in Camden in 2002, which coincided with the launch of his Rolling Stones 65 – 67 book. Much of the book is taken with his nine-week, 48 city tour of the USA in 1965.

Whilst musically I’ll always take The Beatles over the Stones, photographically I’ve always found The Stones to have been generally better photographed than The Beatles. There are several things I really like about Mankowitz’s Stones photos during this period.

As a photographer you can’t help but be envious at the size of the tour and also the access that he was allowed, something you’d almost never get in this day with a band of the Stones’s fame, even back in 1965 when they were just beginning to break in the US. Even if you did get a tour photographer job these days it’s unlikely to be as long as 48 dates, and its not going to be without a whole load of restrictions, nothing like the real ‘Access All Areas’ freedom that music photographers in the 1960s and 1970s seem to have got.

It could be argued that technically the photos are nothing to write home about – even shooting mainly at ISO 3200 there are a lot of focus images due to slow shutter speeds in the dark venues – but I think this only adds to the charm of the photos and helps place them at a time in history. I have previously written in my blog and argued in photography forums on the internet, I have no issues with blurriness or images that aren’t pin sharp. If you’re photographing something like car racing, the advice is usually to pan the camera to add movement, as photos of cars racing at high speed but frozen at high shutter speeds in photos make for a dull set of photos. So I see no difference when capturing the energy and movement of a band on stage or a highly excited crowd; blur from movement adds so much more to the overall effect.

Finally, there’s such a sense of history looking at the photos; the fresh faced Stones, the fashion of the band and the audience and, most importantly, the sense of being in the right time at the right place to capture the madness as the Stones suddenly hit the big time in the US. It’s quite a unique situation and it’s what every music photographer dreams about.

There’s a video podcast of Gered talking about his work at The Morrison Hotel Gallery here.

Wikipedia tells us that the latest Queens Of The Stone Age album, Era Vulgaris refers to the Latin term for Common Era.  The entry continues by saying that the title was chosen by Josh Homme because he thought “it sounds like ‘the Vulgar Era’, which I like, because that sounds like something that I would like to be part of…”.

After last Thursday experiences I can confirm that Mr Homme is definitely part of ‘the Vulgar Era’ he so wants to belong to…

 My Thursday went as follows:

1. Promoter rings me up at about 3pm and says be there at 9:15pm;
2. Get there at 9:15pm and notice the signs saying that their set starts at 10pm;
3. The box office call through to the tour manager/promoter rep/whoever, who tells them to tell me to come back at 9:30pm;
4. Come back at 9:30pm, guy turns up, hands me a one page contract with very little white space on it;
5. Start reading. Guy tells me it’s non-negotiable;
6. Get to Clause 2; it says I transfer copyright to them for use throughout the universe for whatever use they want etc;
7. I tell the guy this. He smugly tells me that I can use the photo once in the named publication but ‘they’ (whoever they is; I couldn’t actually find it on the contract…) own the photos;
8. Guy tells me sign or I’m not coming in;
9. I tell him I that I don’t think I’m going to come in;
10. Whilst in the process of folding up the contract to put in my pocket he rips it out my hands, passes it over to the box office girl;
11. I ask can I keep the contract;
12. He tells me to get out.

In part I felt empowered doing it, but at the same time I was very seething, although I think was mainly to do with how this guy treated me and spoke down to me.

The only other photographer there, a woman photographing for a music website, didn’t even read the contract, signed away and told me it was just a standard contract. I told her it wasn’t as you were giving them copyright. She shrugged her shoulders and walked in…  it’s kind of sad that photographers are willing to sign contracts without reading them and without caring for the rights that they have signed away.

I emailed my Editor first thing Friday morning to explain what had happened and why I wasn’t sending though any photos.  Not only did she agree with me 100%, but she sent an email of complaint to the promoter; a big deal considering it’s a major promoter. 

I don’t feel it’s a missed opportunity as the guy had already told us the pit was too small and we’d have to shoot from the staircase towards the back of the room…  but no photos, not even rubbish ones from miles from the stage to show you.  But, most importantly, no regrets whatsoever. 

Remember kids, just say no…

See a slightly bigger/more readable version here or the full contract text and discussion from the ‘Concert Photography’ Flickr group here.

Tonight I was supposed to be photographing Carol King, which I had been looking forward to doing. It’s not every day you get to photograph one of the 20th century’s most renowned songwriters.

But I ended up turning it down when they sent me the contract to sign. The contract said that the photos could only be used once, for the publication I was doing them for. So I couldn’t include them on my website, show them here, upload them to flickr etc. I have ended up signing similar contracts before, even though I probably shouldn’t as I don’t agree with them, and as I’m not getting paid to do the photos there’s nothing in it for me, other than bragging rights; to be able to say to people that I photographed a certain band/singer.

However, the clincher was this:

Her album ‘Tapestry’ is estimated to have sold 22m copies.

Her songwriting credits (with Gerry Goffin) include:
Will You Love Me Tomorrow;
Up On The Roof;
The Locomotion;
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman; and
He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss).

So you’d think that if Carol King wanted to use a photographer’s photos that she wouldn’t be short of a few bob to pay them for using them…

A shame, but I know I did the right thing.