Check Out Lynn Goldsmith’s Rock and Roll Photo Exhibit At The Hallmark Museum, Turners Falls, MA

It’s okay if you don’t recognize her name, but you’ll certainly recognize some of her photos if you’re a music buff - Goldsmith has been getting amazing shots of rock icons for over forty years now. Her works have been published in Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Time and a host of other publications. According to Tom Petty, "Lynn was always the best rock & roll photographer. You felt she was living in the same world you were, and that was worth a lot when you're young and suspicious of authority." And how cool is it that her exhibit is right in our backyard?

I’d never been to the Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography before this showing, but how could I turn down a free viewing of one of my favorite subjects. The exhibit was small, but showed a good cross-section of the variety of musical subjects she’s captured over the years – from James Taylor to The Sex Pistols to Van Halen (classic VH, of course), the prints were phenomenal. I found the vintage shot of Gene Simmons (of KISS) to be of particular interest – it’s a snap of him (in full makeup and costume) getting off a bus at night. The stark contrast of the bright blue bus against the darkness, coupled by the somewhat bewildered look on his face make it the perfect scene. And the photo mosaic section of her works alone would take forever to scour through, if you wanted to view every small picture that makes up the larger whole.

The exhibit will be up through September 21st. And if you’d like to see the woman herself – and maybe get a signed copy of her newest book, “Rock and Roll” – she’ll be around on September 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Hallmark Institute of Photography Educational Center, 27 Industrial Boulevard, Turners Falls, Massachusetts. She will be giving a slide lecture and talking about her exciting career.

For a better sampling of her works, check out LynnGoldsmith.com or her page on RockandRollPhotoGallery.com.