Among the most iconic photographs within the historical past of standard music have been taken by one man, who began taking footage of rock bands when he was solely 15 years outdated. That man was Ed Caraeff, whose profession spans a long time of not solely images and artwork design for artists like Dolly Parton, Steely Dan and Elton John, but additionally a protracted profession within the New York Metropolis restaurant world.
After a significant well being scare in 2015, Caraeff offered the rights to his images and launched into a “bucket listing” journey throughout the nation in his camper van, which he’s been doing for practically seven years now. Throughout a cease in San Luis Obispo final month, Caraeff got here to the KCBX studio with a ebook referred to as “Burning Want: The Jimi Hendrix Expertise by the Lens of Ed Caraeff.”
Caraeff’s iconic Jimi Hendrix picture and its legacy
“It was on Rolling Stone twice. [Publisher] Jann Wenner referred to as me and advised me that he was doing a difficulty on the best rock exhibits of all time, and that he had acquired his resolution down to 2 photographs, and that he determined to make use of my picture of Jimi on the Monterey Theatre burning his guitar. And I bear in mind, I used to be already within the restaurant enterprise at the moment, however the first phrases out of my mouth have been, ‘What is the different shot?'”
“And he additionally requested permission to paint it, as an alternative of simply doing it. Most individuals would have simply accomplished that and never advised me, however he requested permission to paint it in utilizing a another person’s picture as a information from that night time. I agreed, and it was used the primary time in shade on the quilt of Rolling Stone.”
Ed Caraeff
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Iconic Photos
“He made certain to inform me that the quilt would not have a number of kind on it, like ‘Greatest faculty vogue.’ He stated it might be actual easy, and he is the one who made it well-known, as a result of nobody cared about that picture earlier than that. Kodak gave me an award, saying it was probably the most well-known rock picture ever taken — that was enjoyable.”
From images to artwork directing to cooking
“That is 1980, in New York Metropolis. I acquired my first go well with aside from a bar mitzvah go well with, you understand, I really acquired a Ralph Lauren go well with. I acquired a leather-based portfolio, and my thought was to name artwork administrators at firms. If I admired their album covers, I might go see their artwork administrators and present them my portfolio. And I referred to as one file firm, and once I acquired put by they answered the telephone and stated, ‘Are you calling concerning the artwork director job?'”
“So I did not miss a beat, I stated yeah. Seems that they had an advert out in search of an artwork director. So I simply took some issues out of my portfolio, put different issues that have been extra artwork path and I ended up getting that job. I spent 5 years as an artwork director and inventive director in New York Metropolis.”
“[After that] I answered an advert within the Sunday New York Instances to be an govt chef close to the United Nations, to open a Tex-Mex Restaurant. I acquired a cooking audition, and I acquired supplied the job and that was my first job [as a chef].”
“I had no cooking expertise in any respect. In the course of the time in New York, I grew to become a single mum or dad with my two sons. And so we simply went out to eat on a regular basis. It is easy to do for those who’re in New York Metropolis, you understand, they’d solely eat a number of objects — pizza, cheeseburgers, French toast. I spotted after every week I wanted to do some greens, perhaps.”
“So I might go to a bookstore in New York and simply stand within the again and look within the indexes to study issues. I needed to discover ways to bake a potato. So I used to be actually curious the extra I realized about the way to cook dinner. I simply thought, it is a type of expression. I believe I am an artist with a fairly good enterprise sense, and I simply adopted my ardour.”
“The factor concerning the cooking is, I felt with my images I had sort of been there accomplished that, you understand. I did not really feel like going again to creating music movies, which you’d see was perhaps a pure extension — however the cooking alternative got here alongside as a result of I needed to cook dinner for my sons, after which I simply cherished that and have become keen about it.”
“And I consider all of the issues in my life that I’ve realized, with the ability to effortlessly cook dinner with none stress is the perfect factor I’ve ever accomplished.”
Ed Caraeff
Iconic Photos
Well being scares and bucket lists
“[The health scares] began once I acquired a toothache and I ended up underneath heart specialist care, and a 12 months and a half into MRIs and testing, they found a an aneurysm that was rising in my aorta.”
“And proper there within the physician’s workplace, as he is speaking to me, I thought of my mortality. And I believed that I might labored lengthy sufficient at an early age — it was nicely over 50 years of regular work — I believed, ‘bucket listing.’ All of this taking place in cut up seconds, I believed ‘bucket listing,’ and one factor instantly popped up like nothing else ever has. And that is what I am doing, what I have been doing for the final seven years: I removed all my possessions and moved right into a camper van.”
“I do not know, it is simply the best way it’s. You realize, I often search for the subsequent factor to do as an alternative of dwell previously. I am speaking Orcas Island to the Florida Keys to Woodstock New York, the California desert, which I like. What I do not do is, I want to not fly on an airplane anymore, and I do not drive into Canada or Mexico.”
Caraeff’s connection to San Luis Obispo
“That is the last word place to seek out any half any screw, any material [for the VW camper van].” My motor, my engine was constructed right here at Westy Werks. That is the place to be, that is why I found San Luis Obispo, due to my Volkswagen classic camper van. There isn’t any different place perhaps outdoors of Germany that has each half out there and individuals who know the way to keep them, not simply mechanically, however all of the camper elements — the tent, the sink, the range, my little quirky wants, and it is all accomplished proper right here in San Luis Obispo.”
Courtesy of Iconic Photos
“You may go any path [here]. You may go south, you may go to Large Sur. You may go on the 101, you may go all types of various instructions proper from right here. Yeah, it is good.”
Beginning early, by no means sleeping
“Folks would name me for images, and if I might do it, I did it. Then I developed all that movie and I made all of the prints myself, did not ship something out. I labored on a regular basis. When my household went to sleep, I might make a cup of espresso and I might go down within the darkroom, the place I had a fantastic sound system and an excellent secure gentle, you understand, not only a crimson bulb. It was all comfy for me, and I labored till 4 within the morning, on a regular basis. I had regular work for 14 years with none enterprise card, no portfolio, no agent, and my telephone quantity was unlisted. However I saved busy.”
“I began that whereas I used to be in highschool. I began this profession, which I did not know was a job possibility and I used to be grateful, but it surely was a curler coaster. I had a really excessive customary, I used to be very skilled. I wasn’t a flake, so I acquired the roles. I needed to ship the completed paintings able to go for the printer. I needed to go to the printer to ensure what they did represented my artwork. I did all that — I used to be a complete management freak for 14 years.”
“I by no means went tenting, I did not go to the promenade, I did not actually date. I simply labored — I used to be round artists, I used to be within the studio, I used to be of their houses, I used to be on their non-public jets, I used to be in castles. I imply, unbelievable issues, however you understand, I did not have that different expertise, and I believed I might miss that if I did not get to simply drive round with out reservations and camp out, which I had by no means accomplished.”
“I as soon as dedicated to go on a European tour with Three Canine Evening and I had so many roles to complete that I once I acquired on that, I hadn’t slept in six nights. That is in all probability why I’ve an aortic aneurysm — I wore the physique down.”
Classical music, French radio and Bob Dylan
“If it wasn’t for music, we would not be sitting right here. I would not have been fascinated about photographing musicians and their unusual look. I am an enormous fan of music and the best way it adjustments, and the best way artwork directs your life, from classical to Miles Davis.”
“I am very influenced by a radio station out of Paris, France referred to as FIP — commercial-free free public radio, they usually play probably the most eclectic choice of music. You by no means know what you are going to hear subsequent, they go from Van Morrison to a classical piece to one thing from a film to an African beat. It is actually wild, and so I make a playlist of what I hear on French radio.”
“I’ve all types of various playlists: early Rolling Stones, Cat Stevens, you title it. I am an enormous Large Bob Dylan fan, who I set to work with, which was an enormous thrill for me.”
A set of a few of Ed Caraeff’s photographs all through the years.
Courtesy of Iconic Photos
On awards, recognition and copycats
“It is all an enormous honor to me. Even when folks simply need to submit it on their social media factor and rip it off, that is nonetheless an honor. I really feel flattered. I used to be strolling down the boardwalk as soon as at Venice Seashore, and everybody’s promoting their wares, I stroll over and somebody’s painted one in every of my photographs the place Jimi’s on the brink of burn the guitar, they usually had accomplished an enormous portray of it.”
“My good friend stated it was a rip-off, you understand, so I stated, ‘You realize, it is flattery.’ I believe it is flattery, actually — it was fairly good portray. Somebody simply did a tattoo of it, and it is wonderful. A tattoo artist in Monterey did his model of my picture, and I contacted him and stated ‘Properly accomplished,’ as a result of he actually made it actually his personal factor. It is a phenomenal tattoo, it is superior.”
This interview has been edited for readability and size.
