Photography Rock Posters
Some years ago I assembled what I am told is the largest archival database of concert rock posters, with measurements, commentary, and hi-res photographs of most posters, on the planet. I am not talking about the glossy commercial posters for different music artists, but the original dated posters that advertised the actual venue and concert itself.
I photographed some 33,000 hi-res poster images. To do this I built my own large vacuum table from pegboard (about 4-foot square) and hooked it to a large shop vac. It worked perfectly and was able to hold the posters flat, including the very tips of the corners.
I had two studio lights placed at 45-degree angles to the poster and shot using a tripod, the Nikon D1X, and the earlier version of the Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. Each image, of course, had to be cropped, color corrected, and so on. Needless to say, this was not done in a day, but took years.
Aside from my own very large collection of rock posters, I was able to talk some of the best collectors in the world into sending me their rarest posters, which I then photographed.
My poster database will be featured at a major permanent installation in the near future dedicated to rock n’ roll posters.
The image shown here was very difficult to shoot. It was originally printed on a piece of acetate, and only a handful have survived. Worth a lot of money. This image is by the incredible poster artist Bob Fried, whom I consider one of the great artists of the San Francisco 1960s poster scene. Unfortunately, Fried died way too early. He produced some wonderful art, which this image illustrates.
For those interested in knowing more about Bob Fried, here is an interview that I did years ago with his wife Penelope Fried:
http://spiritgrooves.net/pdf/articles/Posters/Classic%20Posters%20Interview%20with%20Penelope%20Fried%20by%20Michael%20Erlewine.pdf
