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I shot Jimi Hendrix!
By Peter Simmons
A request It was just another assignment at the time for a freelance photographer based in London and involved in the alternative and music scenes, but not quite. For a start it came via a Swedish friend living in Stockholm and was for a weekend of photographing for a Swedish magazine she worked as a journalist for; the brief was to cover the Isle of Wight Pop Festival, the third to be held, to illustrate the article she would write; the year was 1970. We had been to the previous two festivals at the Isle of Wight [a large island off the south coast of England opposite the naval port of Portsmouth for those unfamiliar with the UK] just for the music, paying for our tickets like the many thousands of others who loved the outdoor scene where 'our' musicians played for us, setting up camp to the sound of The Band rehearsing songs from Music from Big Pink, what turned out to be a seminal sixties album, the kids wandering free as they could do safely in those days. A dream ticket? There were tickets for the festival for the family of course, and backstage passes, which in this case were both to the front of the stage and to the exclusive roped-off area behind where the musicians gathered prior to going onstage, and socialised with others, many of them being close friends. Names who are now revered icons of 'the sixties' strolled around, chatted, rehearsed, relaxed in the manner of the sixties. To me they were just some people who made music, much of which I enjoyed, but there was no sense of reverence; we were the non-reverential generation, no barriers, we were all one and excited screaming at stars was something for idiots. Among those gathered there that year were; Chicago, Donovan, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Family, Groundhogs, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, Joan Baez, John Sebastian, Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis Pentangle, Procol Harum, Ralph McTell, Richie Havens, Sly and the Family Stone, Supertramp, Ten Years After, The Doors, The Moody Blues, The Who, and, of course, crème-de-la-crème, Jimi Hendrix. On the road So we loaded up the VW camper with the tent, sleeping bags, food, nappies, clothes and all the necessaries for a two week camp, plus the kids, three boys and our baby girl, and headed for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight ferry. The camera I took for this momentous event was a Leica 35mm, same as my hero at the time, Henri Cartier Bresson, had used all his life; so simple you didn't have to think much about the equipment, it took care of itself, you just used it like a third eye once you had internalised it's performance. I also took a load of 35mm black and white films, the magazine world had yet to experience the digital colour revolution and the pictures needed were black and white, all were used up over the weekend. The future world of digital cameras, laptops and Photoshop was a long way away! Big names and naked hippies I managed to shoot most of the acts I guessed that a Swedish weekly might be interested in; all the top line acts of course, the big names, plus some crowd scenes for atmosphere with perhaps the odd nude if one presented themselves, hippies being renowned for taking their clothes off, the outside world had a prurient interest in these young people! Lights, camera ... With this sort of line-up there was plenty to choose from, hampered only by available light, which as it turned out wasn't a restriction, I was so used to estimating the light and setting my camera manually (no light meter or any other guide, I preferred just my experience and knowledge of what the film was capable of in those days), and the main shot the mag featured was taken after dark with only stage lighting. The result is shown below. Other than this magazine, which is now defunct and with it all my negatives lost, there has been no other publication of this photo, yet it might have ranked among the iconic sixties images of Jimi if it hadn't been for being in a little-known Swedish publication Hänt-I-Veckan). I later got hold of a scan of this Hendrix one, the negatives having been flown straight back to Sweden to be developed there to catch publication deadline so I never handled them. As it turned out, the one of Jimi was the only musician pic they printed, the others used were the two shots of naked hippies the journalist insisted the magazine wanted and a panorama of the crowd taken from the surrounding hillside. Copyright and all that jazz The magazine was the copyright holder, since I was working on assignment to them. With the magazine now no more, I would love to know where those negatives ended up. Since it no longer exists, I have claimed copyright on this one for want of any information on what happened to them and a lack of rival claims. Chances are they ended up in a skip after the magazine closure and office clearout. My yellowing copy of the 1970 issue of the magazine may be the only one in existence!
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More pictures of the Isle of Wight Festival that year
| My hero!
  
Jimi Hendrix shot by me
Hant-I-Veckan magazine front
Hant-I-Veckan IoW Festival page
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Peter, Great shot! That must have been one awesome concert with all those bands, some of my favourites. Isn't it wonderful the memories that photographs rekindle. Rosemary
Great photo, fascinating intel about the world's best ever guitarist - should be five stars.
Great Intel Peter. What a pity that the negatives were lost.
A wonderful 5***** story, Peter. What a great experience and thank you for sharing.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes for a Happy New Year.
Frederick
The copyright for this content entitled "I shot Jimi Hendrix!" has been specified by the contributor as:
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This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
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