Jim Marshall. Photo courtesy of the Morrison Hotel Gallery.
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Lots of people—including Henry Diltz, Mark Seliger, and Danny Clinch—came out to the John Varvatos store in Soho on Wednesday night to join Timothy White in paying tribute to his friend, legendary rock photographer Jim Marshall, who died Tuesday at the age of 74. Timothy and Jim had been scheduled to sign copies of their book, Match Prints, at the store that night and to talk with John Varvatos about the many iconic portraits the two of them have shot over the years. Match Prints was published only three weeks earlier, and this was to be the first of three such book signings/conversations at John Varvatos stores.
Addressing the crowd on Wednesday, Timothy talked about his old friend. “White talked about Marshall’s big heart, which contrasted with his famously gruff exterior,” wrote Steven Kurutz of The Wall Street Journal the next day, “joking that ‘he was a man of very few words sometimes. And most of them were f*ck.’”
Here are some photos:
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Danny Clinch and Timothy White. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Timothy White and John Varvatos. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Henry Diltz. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
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At the website of the Morrison Hotel Gallery, which sells Jim’s work, there’s a short memorial to Jim by Henry Diltz. “Jim was a constant in our fraternity of music photographers. He WAS our ‘fuckin’ guru,” Diltz writes. “He was a sweet man with a tough, raspy way about him. Jim Marshall stories will abound now, as if they didn’t already. Everybody has a Jim story. That’s because he was an original and he didn’t suffer fools lightly. He had an opinion and he didn’t mind telling it. Jim was the top of the line in music photography. He was a film guy to the end. He did not abide digital. Even answering machines bugged him. He had very little patience for a lot of things except for taking pictures and he was a master at that.” To read the rest, go here.
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Jim Marshall's famous shot of Johnny Cash at San Quentin in 1969.
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One Comment
Sorry too, to learn of Jim’s death, as I was familiar with his photography and we had several friends in common. At least he had a long, interesting and productive life, with his many friends–and his photographs provide a good testimonial to his talents and so many of his subjects, too.