NY1: Rock Photog’s New Work Pops Up In Chelsea

legend of rock and roll photography who not only had the skills but also the name is sharing his celebrity run-ins at a new exhibit in Chelsea. NY1’s Stephanie Simon filed the following report.

They say if you remember the 70’s you weren’t there. But how could photographer Mick Rock forget. Despite admitted use of some “chemical substances” Rock remembers his hey days photographing the likes of David bowie, Mick Jagger, Lou Reed and his all time favorite muse, Blondie’s Debbie Harry.

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For my sins in a former life, I’ve been forced to spend an inordinate amount of time with musicians in this life. Of course, I love them.

A camera is a wonderful ally. It requires minimal maintenance and provides entry to a world of endless imagery.

My ambition was not to be a great photographer (though that certainly would have been a worthy stance). It was a lust to embrace anything that startled or energized me.

I am not in the business of documenting or revealing personalities. I am in the business of freezing shadows and bottling auras.

Without the rock ‘n rollers, I would not have developed as an image man.

You want to shock people with a bit of mystery and beauty. That’s my favorite kind of shocking.

I’ve never felt like a voyeur, although I’ve certainly done plenty of looking!

There’s an art to looking back - how to celebrate the past without being entrapped by it. Photographs provide the great physical link.

My allegiance was always to the act. I wanted them to be happy. I wasn’t owned by a magazine or a record label.

I smell pictures more than I see them and I hear pictures more than I can smell them. It’s very habit forming.