Suzie HarrisonIt’s been a long time since...

Suzie Harrison

It’s been a long time since he’s rock ‘n’ rolled, but photographer

Mike Kelly, owner of Pure Color gallery in Laguna Beach, is going

retro with his work, back to his roots of shooting concerts.

This weekend his entire gallery will be transformed, removing

shots of waves, polar bears and other fine art photography and

replacing his pieces with his work of Bowie, the Who, and Rolling

Stones for his “Rock Show.”

Kelly said he feels fortunate that over the years he and his wife

RonDee, who co-owns the gallery, have been successful with his fine

art. Before he was shooting fine art he was a freelance photographer

primarily in rock ‘n’ roll.

“That was my gig early on,” Kelly said. “I thought it would be fun

to respond to some of our clients and show some early work -- plus

it’s significant to this time.”

Rock was the venue where Kelly honed his technical style and fell

into a position to learn his craft in challenging conditions.

“Typically there is no lighting or there’s really bright lights

and there’s lots of movement,” Kelly said. “It allowed me to acquire

skills that has allowed me to do flying birds and wild animals.”

In college, he had a passion for photography and decided to

connect his photography with those things he was passionate about. He

said it was a natural deal. Kelly would bring his camera into

concerts back in the day when people were allowed to do so and he

started to submit his work to magazines.

“Cream and Rolling Stone published them,” Kelly said. “I didn’t

get rich but it was fun.”

The images on exhibit start from 1974 and go through 1979 and

include Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Elton John, Queen, Paul

McCartney, Led Zeppelin, the Beach Boys and George Harrison. Each

photo has the date and the concert venue -- most were shot at the

Forum, Santa Monica Civic Center and Anaheim Stadium.

“It was a relatively small span of time, while I was going to

college,” Kelly said. “It was an environment that allowed me to

improvise a lot and an opportunity to really be creative.”

Photographically speaking the situation was challenging with the

lighting differences and the subjects running around.

“It was tough to get a quality picture of a rock show,” Kelly

said. “Thankfully they didn’t have mosh pits then.”

He said he was glad he didn’t caught up in the behind the scenes

decadence and kept focused on what was going on in the front of the

stage.

Kelly told the story of one of his most difficult times trying to

get in to shoot a Crosby Stills Nash and Young concert. He had a

friend who sold binoculars at the venue prompting him to try to get

in posing as a binocular vendor.

“I stashed my camera equipment in the box underneath and actually

made $3 extra bucks renting binoculars.” Kelly said.

In his early years, he also shot a lot of Formula One car racing

and equated the two experiences.

“It’s similar to rock ‘n’ roll, it’s a sensory assault,” Kelly

said. “There’s a cross over between rock stars and racing. I have a

shot of George Harrison hanging out at the Long Beach Grand Prix. I

was so close that you could see my image in his sunglasses.”

He also said that sneaking into the pits at races was not unlike

getting past security at concerts.

RonDee and Mike said that they’ve received a lot of positive

feedback about the show happening and that there’s interest in seeing

images of bands that have survived the test of time.

“The gallery will be empty of everything else,” RonDee said.

“Continually for three days it will just be rock ‘n’ roll.”

Kelly had just returned from a shoot in Europe and equates the

strong ties he’s had with subjects from before and now.

“I had a lot of passion for rock ‘n’ roll, it was an intense photo

exploration,” Kelly said. “It’s fun because then I absolutely had a

passion about photography and this show integrates several passions.

It’s integrated into something successful and artistically

rewarding.”

RonDee said that looking at some of the rock images she can see a

bit of his current style.

“It’s undeniable that music is a pretty impressional moment in our

lives,” Kelly said. “I look forward to sharing that thread of

continuity, from polar bears and ice bergs in Patagonia this was the

training ground, the technical style to get me to fine art

photography today.”

The show will consist of limited edition work and will also

include rare images of the Beatles from Lin Holland’s collection. The

exhibit will open today at 1 p.m. with a reception complete with rock

music, wine and food from 7 to 10 p.m. The show will continue from 11

a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Pure Color

Gallery is at 570 S. Coast Highway. For information, call 497-1129.