THE WILD SIDE OF LIFE
Although ROSS HALFIN made his name creating some of rock’n’roll’s most iconic images, he has spent the last decade shooting a different kind of wild landscape. By Jonathan Wingate
Ross Halfin was studying as a painter at Wimbledon School Of Art when he started taking live pictures of his favourite bands for the weekly music papers. Disillusioned with academic life and unimpressed with the punk scene, he took up photography full-time and was soon shooting unforgettable images of legendary groups such as Thin Lizzy, The Who and Led Zeppelin.
In 1980 he became the chief photographer at Kerrang! and spent the next 20 years taking pictures of the reigning monarchs of heavy metal, capturing the essence of everyone from Iron Maiden to Metallica. The latter’s group’s lead singer – James Hetfield – calls him “The best rock photographer of all time.” Although he is busier than ever in the music world, these days Halfin is far happier taking landscape pictures, and has just published Sojourner, a lavish limited-edition collection of his extraordinarily beautiful travel photography. “This book will make people aware of Ross’s other side,” explains Jimmy Page in his introduction to the book. “He’s a damn fine photographer.”
When did you become interested in photography?
I got into photography at art school. I used to look at pictures in magazines and go, “I could do better than that.” That’s …
by Jonathan Wingate
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