Ethan Russell: photographer tribute

On this, the 50th Anniversary of the Altamont festival concert, I pay tribute to Ethan Russell. His name is not well known, even in music circles, but he’s worked with some of the biggest names of the late sixties and early seventies, including The Beatles, and The Who. But he’s best known for his tour photos of the Rolling Stones, and for good reason. 

Lots of photographers have made great pictures with the Rolling Stones, including Michael Cooper, Annie Leibovitz and Anton Corbijn, but no one nailed it like Ethan Russell. His photographs have that mix of interesting narrative and a striking visual mood, but there was another quality that he seemed to understand, the value of mystery. 

What a little mystery brings to a photograph, and even a undercurrent of something dark, or sinister, were his biggest influences on my development as a photographer. Especially given that I started in mostly making music portraits.

You can see his best known and deservedly iconic work if you search Google images but it’s harder to find the very best images, the ones shot in small pools of light with a palpable tension in them. For those, you’ll have to have to find old books on the Rolling Stones, or monographs of Russell’s work, to locate the deep takes.