Richard Upper: My Life As A Teenage Rock Photographer

Photographer Richard Upper got his start taking pictures in Hawaii in the late 1960s. As a teenager he began shooting rock concerts for local concert promoters. He soon branched out into a career that would include many album covers, magazine spreads and poster art. He had his first album cover at 16, Steve Miller's "Rock Love." In time his photography began appearing regularly in magazines, billboards, advertising and more album art. Traveling to Los Angeles meant the chance to shoot artists like The Rolling Stones at the Forum. At age 19, Richard moved to L.A., where he was hired by a number of record companies to document their artists' concerts and publicity. He was immediately thrust into the concert scene, photographing bands for all the labels including Rod Stewart & The Faces, Van Halen and Blondie to name a few. Upper's resume also includes album covers for Santana, The Faces, Rory Gallagher and Rod Stewart, as well as a 30-minute rockumentary on Blondie which he shot in 1977 at the Whiskey A Go Go on the Sunset Strip. Currently Richard has assembled his archives of vintage rock images and has shown his work in galleries around the country.