Jim Marshall was A friend of mine
Jim was the best photographer of the music world
Jim was a very complicated person.
Photographs of Jim Marshall by Paul G Ryan
Jim lived on Union Street, around the corner from my girlfriend and I.
When we came by he often greeted me by leaning out of his second floor apartment.
I was new to photography and just learning in the rowdy days of the sixties.
I was lucky be around a small group of North Beach photographers, Jim Marshall, Jerry Stoll, Elaine Mayes….
Jim had taken some of the most iconic photographs of Rock Stars.
We connected on many fronts, we both rode Triumph Motorcycles. Jim was more into speeding along urban streets, while I liked the off road trails. But we traded bikes now and then. Jim had a Triumph 650 I had a 500c.
We both loved Jazz.
He was a mentor to me with few words, he pushed me to try things I might not have. He told me not to be shy in my photography.
Amelia Davis recently published Show Me the Picture, a comprehensive book on Jim’s photographs and life. They asked me for my reflection on the time i spent with him. They included what I told them:
It was also his way of gaining the trust of people, mostly celebrities in fields he didn’t know. He seldom spoke of his own life.
Jim had more photography work than he could handle and so at the Monterey Jazz fest in 1964, he passed his Newsweek assignment on to me. With a backstage pass.
Elaine Mayes, Jim and I drove down from San Francisco, and we smoked a bit of marijuana and I remember that the fifteen minute drive through downtown Monterey seemed to take hours. That’s how it was in those early days.
In those drug years, I occasionally stopped by Jim’s to pick up some cocaine. To my surprise, there were people there I didn’t know. Seemed risky. Jim was not averse to risk and I was too naive to know.
Despite the tough and macho image he projected, Jim had a soft and needy side with women.
Susie was Jim’s girlfriend for a while, and rather abruptly, they decided to get married.
He asked me to photograph the wedding. I was surprised and honored
It was a idyllic affair at Monterey.
“I’ve always liked cars, guns, and cameras. Cars and guns have got me into trouble — cameras haven’t.”
Jim Marshall
There was a dangerous part of Jim’s life. I’d heard of it too many times for it not to be true, but I never saw it.
But his violent side ( he once showed me how his Leica could serve as a lethal hand weapon.) and his temper began to cost him photography jobs. ( Bill Graham banned Jim from the Fillmore Auditorium)
He had guns and was arrested more than once for threatening people with them.
I moved to LA and lost touch with Jim.
Many years later I was in New York and heard of a Birthday party for him. Suki and I stopped by. He looked older, but happy. He was about to leave for Japan to photograph autos for Nissan
PAUL! This one is killer. I can't believe you got to photograph his wedding. They should have interviewed you for the documentary. We own the book - now we just have to find your note in it!
Paul here again is another adventure that I missed. Sounds like a guy I could get in trouble with also. What a tribute to an iconic dude.
Deeds