Photographers freeze fractions of a second in the present, to share the past in the future. Sometimes that “future” is within minutes when shared on social media. However, more often, that future is at least one day later in newspapers, weeks or months later in magazines, and years later in books.
Sometimes, it takes years for photographs to be seen by an audience other than the photographer’s closest circle of friends and family. Color slides and negatives are often buried in binders or boxes waiting to be seen by the public.
Sometimes, as is the case with my photos of Jimmy Buffett, it takes 40+ years to be published in a book or seen by a fairly wide audience via Facebook.
For me, my interest in photography coincided with my introduction to Jimmy Buffett’s music in 1976. At the time, I was simply eager to shoot photos of people, places, and things that were important to me.
And Jimmy certainly fit that description. He WAS so important to me that I embarked on a 5-day, 3-concert hitchhiking adventure, which I mention often in these newsletters and my Facebook posts.
Capturing those images of Jimmy in concert provided great satisfaction to me at the time, but I also fantasized about having my photos used on an album cover, in a book, or on a magazine cover. Of course, back then, there was no internet, nor websites, nor Facebook. Nor video walls behind the performers at concerts.
Over time, those dreams remained, as my photography skills improved shooting sports and despite having my photos published in magazines, advertisements, and books. I have enjoyed seeing my photos published hundreds, if not thousands of times, including about 65 magazine and book covers.
No matter what, ALL photographers want their images to be SEEN, myself included, in whatever medium they are shown.
So when I heard about the “Keep the Party Going: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett” concert, I knew it would likely be my last time to pay homage to Jimmy by having my photos seen by a large audience during a concert.
I reached out to Stan Kellam, the wizard behind the curtain who produced all that great imagery on the video wall in back of Jimmy and the Coral Reefer Band during concerts.
I knew Stan was the man to contact for the Tribute concert as three of my photos were actually used on the video wall during the summer of 2021 when Jimmy included his own Tribute to Greg “Magic” Fingers.
Unbeknownst to me, a fan caught a photo of my images up on the big screen, posted it on Facebook, where I saw and learned of its inclusion during concert. OMG - it was so large, waaaaay bigger than life-sized and even though no one other than myself knew it included my photos, having them be seen by so many gave me a great deal of satisfaction.
Anyway, right after the Tribute concert was announced, I sent Stan an email asking if he could use some photos from Jimmy’s previous concerts. Stan asked what I had, I created albums of 14 concerts, and invited him to take a look. I also included a handful of other subjects I thought might be appropriate. Those are also posted below.
He responded in an email that he would like to include 12 of my concerts from 9 of those concerts, along with several ticket stubs which I had scanned. He wrote that he would like to use my photos during the “Back Where I Come From” performance.
So it “appears” my photos will be used in the Tribute concert and I will be there to capture more photos of my own photos in use. I emphasize “appears” simply because I have been pursuing photography long enough to know that things change, often at the last minute.
Here are the photos and ticket stub scans Stan asked me to forward - if you’re at the concert, please keep an eye out for them. And if you’re at the concert, please consider shooting some photos of my pix in use and forward them to me.
And now you know “the rest of the story…”
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Because “sharing is caring” and as stated, all photographers want their photos to be seen, here are selected images from the other, non-concert, albums I offered to Stan. Only a small handful have ever been published.
I thought Key West life and its characters might be appropriate for “I Have Found Me a Home:”
Or photos of a legitimate tall ship, the SS Stephen Schooner, which plies the waters off of Maine
More modern boats of all types:
Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, including Cane Garden Bay, which Jimmy sings about in “Mañana:”
I don’t have many, but also offered a handful of scuba photos for possible use to show “Bubbles Up”
And finally, I included photos of The Albuquerque Balloon Festival from a few years ago. In an altered state after my gummy kicked in, I thought a segue from bubbles under the sea to captured “bubbles” of air ascending into the sky might be appropriate.
Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my other photos. Any favorites?
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Coming Soon: My photo-driven essay of the Tribute Concert, and then after that, I will get back on track with Bob Liberman’s memoir and our collaboration to bring his stories to life.
Cheers from the Hollywood Bowl!
Fabulous! I hope they make it on! So exciting!
Congrats Chris. What an honor.