Awards

• Commended for Benjamin Franklin Award (Arts (Art/Music/Photo)) 2015
• Commended for Independent Publisher Book Awards (Photography) 2015

Overview

A stunning retrospective of noted celebrity and rock photographer Guy Webster’s work in 1960s Los Angeles. Visually striking and emotionally evocative, this unique volume includes both iconic and never-before-seen images as well as stories from Webster himself and the celebrities he worked with, including Brian Wilson, Michelle Phillips, and Ray Manzarek, among many others. “There was no handbook to navigating the sixties,” admits Guy Webster. It was a time of newfound creative freedom during which any guidebook, had there been one, would have quickly been discarded. From this experiential culture emerged icons who continue to inspire us to this day. Los Angeles was a polestar for the music and entertainment that gave expression to this remarkable time, and Guy Webster, Nikon in hand, bore witness to it all. Webster, an L.A. native, saw his childhood stomping grounds become the epicenter of a youthquake that not only shook up the music scene but also fashion, visual arts, and popular culture. With his controversial cover shot on the Mamas and the Papas’ first album, Webster firmly established his reputation as a photographer capable not only of capturing the emotional nuance of the era, but also of helping to define it. Musicians and actors—such as Simon & Garfunkel, Jack Nicholson, Bob Dylan, Jane Fonda, Jim Morrison, Natalie Wood, Janis Joplin, Raquel Welch, Jimi Hendrix, and Mick Jagger—are among the hundreds of personalities Webster shot before they were legends. In this definitive volume, their early creative worlds and intimate stories come alive on the page.

Full Product Details

9781608872404

Table of Contents

Reviews

A thrill for anyone interested in the L.A. music and film scene of the '60s and '70s, when artists were breaking boundaries and building a new aesthetic...In this age of Instagram and Tumblr and Snapchat, Webster's photos remind readers of the beauty of a timeless picture. -- Variety

Every big shot will appreciate this hugely impressive Big Shots book gallery of iconic celebrity photos by Guy Webster who created some of the most memorable images from 1960s Hollywood. -- Pursuitist [Guy Webster's] candid shots were audacious and revealing...So many of them were defining. Like the sepia one of a young Hush Puppy wearing Van Dyke Parks on the cover of Song Cycle. It's perfect. It visually defines the artist as intensely as does the music...Webster's cinema celebrity photographs are equally evocative and iconic. -- Analog Planet The Kubernik brothers' breathless, succinct summaries capture the era's momentous cultural changes, as well as the historic dynamic reflected in Webster's portraits. -- PR Leap Beginning with his controversial cover shot of The Mamas and the Papas first album, Webster would go on to photograph musicians and actors...whose work would go on to indelibly shape the decade. Big Shots is a fascinating overview of one of rock photography's early innovators, whose career spanned more than 40 years. -- BookTrib Guy Webster was the photographer of '60's counterculture, capturing intimate portraits of young talent like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Jack Nicholson before they became American legends...It's very glamorous and very rock n' roll. -- The Daily Beast Throughout his decades-long career, photographer Guy Webster has captured some of the most iconic figures in music, film and politics - from the Rolling Stones to Dean Martin to Bill Clinton - during their prime. -- RollingStone.com A thrill for anyone interested in the L.A. music and film scene of the '60s and '70s, when artists were breaking boundaries and building a new aesthetic...In this age of Instagram and Tumblr and Snapchat, Webster's photos remind readers of the beauty of a timeless picture. -- Variety

The Kubernik brothers' breathless, succinct summaries capture the era's momentous cultural changes, as well as the historic dynamic reflected in Webster's portraits. -- PR Leap Beginning with his controversial cover shot of The Mamas and the Papas first album, Webster would go on to photograph musicians and actors...whose work would go on to indelibly shape the decade. Big Shots is a fascinating overview of one of rock photography's early innovators, whose career spanned more than 40 years. -- BookTrib Guy Webster was the photographer of '60's counterculture, capturing intimate portraits of young talent like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Jack Nicholson before they became American legends...It's very glamorous and very rock n' roll. -- The Daily Beast Throughout his decades-long career, photographer Guy Webster has captured some of the most iconic figures in music, film and politics - from the Rolling Stones to Dean Martin to Bill Clinton - during their prime. -- RollingStone.com A thrill for anyone interested in the L.A. music and film scene of the '60s and '70s, when artists were breaking boundaries and building a new aesthetic...In this age of Instagram and Tumblr and Snapchat, Webster's photos remind readers of the beauty of a timeless picture. -- Variety

Author Information

Harvey Kubernik has been a noted author, popular music journalist, and record producer for more than forty years. A former West Coast director of A&R for MCA Records, Kubernik is the author of several books, including Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon, A Perfect Haze: The Illustrated History of the Monterey International Pop Festival, It Was 50 Years Ago Today: The Beatles Invade America and Hollywood, and Turn Up the Radio! Rock, Pop, and Roll in Los Angeles 1956–1972. He lives in Los Angeles.

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