Stones fans sure to get satisfaction from photos
[news.scotsman.com]
by BRIAN FERGUSON
CITY COUNCIL REPORTER ([email protected])



LONG-LOST images of The Rolling Stones at their first ever photoshoot are to get top billing at a West End gallery this summer.

Studio One, on Stafford Street, will host a collection of celebrity photography from the 1960s which lifts the lid on the early days of the rock legends.

The Stones were an unsigned band when they were captured by Philip Townsend in Chelsea.

A friendship with the group's first manager Andrew Loog Oldham led to the 22-year-old photographer working with the Stones for more than two years, along with bands like The Beatles and The Shadows.

Townsend, who is bringing more than 100 images to Edinburgh, became one of the best-known photographers in London when it was at the centre of the music and fashion worlds.

He worked throughout the 1960s for national newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express and also freelanced for magazines such as Tatler.

Townsend's exhibition, dubbed Sorry You Missed the 60s, also features rarely-seen pictures of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, David Niven, Sir Alec Guinness and Dudley Moore.

Among the highlights of the exhibition are expected to be images of funnyman Frankie Howerd skateboarding, Cilla Black preparing to make a stage entrance and Twiggy in a psychedelic two-piece suit.

Townsend quit photography at the end of that decade and kept his collection hidden at home for 35 years until he decided to make them public to raise money.

He said: "I met Andrew Loog Oldham when I was in the south of France and when he tracked me down in London he said he had found a band he was going to turn into the biggest rock and roll group in the world.

"It was definitely their first photoshoot as they hadn't made a record or even recorded a demo at that point."

Townsend's collection has only been on public display twice before - in London and York - and is expected to prove a magnet for visitors to Studio One.

Gallery manager Michael Apter said: "From what I can gather these photographs were basically languishing in a cupboard until last year, when Philip decided to dig them out and an exhibition was staged in London.

"Essentially, no-one has seen them and they are so fresh to the eye.

"It's amazing to think this was really the first time Mick Jagger would have properly posed for a camera. We're absolutely delighted to be hosting the exhibition here."

The Townsend exhibition is just one of a number of major photographic showings in store for Edinburgh this summer.

The City Arts Centre is hosting the first UK solo show by Penicuik-born celebrity photographer Albert Watson, who has captured the likes of Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery celebrates the life and work of Glasgow-born photo-journalist Harry Benson, featuring images of The Beatles, Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson.

And the Scottish Parliament plays host the World Press Photo Exhibition - the result of a worldwide annual competition attracting entries from leading photojournalists, agencies, newspapers and magazines from around the globe.

Councillor Ricky Henderson, the city's culture and leisure leader, said: "It's great to see the public's interest in photography being supported by the staging of a number of exhibitions this summer."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-30 08:00 by triplelicks.