Artist: Mike Frankel

Mike Frankel | mikefrankel.com

http://www.mikefrankel.com

When I got my first camera at age 8, in New Jersey, I was hooked on photography and its vast potential for expression and wonderment. In 1964, already a die hard Rock ‘n’ Roll fan, I began taking photographs of bands by shooting the Beatles on their first American Tour at the age of 15. A long relationship with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna has resulted in having scores of photographs on album covers and in box sets over the last four decades. Along the way I developed friendships with and worked for numerous bands including Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Humble Pie and many others. My photographs have also been published in numerous magazines and books. Working at and witnessing Woodstock was one of the most memorable events in my life. I continued photographing the stars through the ’60′s into the early ’70′s, stopping only when the whole scene became “too corporate”. The first time I was asked to get press credentials, I knew it was time to flee the scene!

The works here at my web site are being printed for the first time, scanned directly from the original 35 mm transparencies. No computer enhancement was done. The multiple images you see were all shot “live in the camera” in real time. The photographs were all done before “Photoshop” was even a gleam in anyone’s eyes. The finished slides were composed and exposed with up to 10 images on one frame of film while the action never stopped. I wanted to express a very different effect in most of my photographs, actually viewing the scene from many angles and points of view. Though there are some representational works here I am most proud of my multiple image photographs which are very unique. Though photographing at many venues, I used the Fillmore East in New York City as my “home base” and the lighting there was exactly what I was looking for to make my “visual experiments” successful. I wanted to show what the rock ‘n’ roll experience was really like visually. I felt that my work captured the force and dynamics of the music most closely with the multiple images which represent the many ways of “seeing” the music as it happened.

I continue to experiment and try to stretch the limits of photography and push the limits of my creativity. I live in Flagstaff Arizona with my dog Satchel, and cats Uncle Fester, Zunzie and Mira.

I can be reached at (928) 522-6969 or mike@mikefrankel.com