Bob Marley, through the Lens of David Burnett

From the desk of Ned P. Rauch:

We’ll get back to writing about new music in a bit, but there’s no way anyone with an ear for good music and an eye for beautiful photos should miss this: David Burnett, a guy who used to work with my dad and who stands at the very top of the photojournalism scene, just published a book of photos he took of Bob Marley in 1976 and ’77. Burnett’s Web site has about a dozen of his Marley shots, as well as shots from throughout his career. I strongly recommend digging through as much of his portfolio as time allows. Amazing stuff. You know that Hank Snow tune, “I’ve Been Everywhere”? That should be Burnett’s theme. Spend a few minutes on his site and you think he must have troop of clones all snapping images at the same time in different places around the world.

In a recent interview with the NY Times, Burnett talked about pulling off the greatest trick in photography: getting close enough to be a witness without getting in the way.

“My ultimate desire is really just to be able to get close to somebody and have them forget that I’m there. You just either get it or you don’t. You understand that you’re not really the source of the greatness of this thing, you’re just kind of transmitting it from the subject through your camera to the reader. And so what it’s really about is understanding — in that very human way — what you can do as a photographer that gets you technically what you need, at the same time not disrupting what it is you’re trying to capture.”

He got it right with Marley. And if you look through his Web site, you’ll see he’s been getting it right for a long, long time. Buy his book if you can spare the scratch.

(Photo by David Burnett taken from his Web site without permission but with the utmost respect and admiration.)