I first met Gered around 10 years ago when he was giving a talk on his work with Jimi, the Stones and many other major artists at Focus on Imaging when I was working with Hasselblad. We became friends and the company became involved in some interesting projects with him.

Gered has done a wonderful job of reinterpreting many of his stunning images of Jimi and there is still an important presence of the superb original black and white portraits. These helped to define Jimi’s image at the time and even more significantly reflect the warmth and humour of a wonderfully talented young man about to make his mark on the world.

Johnny Marr opened the exhibition with some very interesting and appreciative points about Jimi – and Gered’s truly iconic images of course. He also revelaed that when he was invited by VOX the famous amplifier manufacturer to endorse their products, Johnny was asked who he would like to do the photo shoot – he requested Gered Mankowitz…

Richard Goodall, Johnny Marr and Gered Mankowitz during the opening

Johnny and Gered

Richard, Johnny, Gered and guest Noddy Holder

A superb source of information on the great man - Jimi Hendrix Record Guide

Richard Goodall Gallery

Richard Goodall Gallery

We had a couple of Private Views of the show, the Bridgewater Hall event on the Wednesday and the gallery’s guest list on Thursday. Nice and busy and one warm summer’s evening even turmed up. This is a set of photographs taken over the past 2 years at the hall who commissioned me to show the artistic life of the hall, reflect the diverse programming and give a glimpse behind the scenes. It was very exciting to be photographing so many genres of music, quickly pick up on the different etiquettes and nuances. All the artists have at least one thing in common – a total commitment to their Art.

The exhibition runs to 10 July 2010

BBC Richard Goodall Gallery  The Bridgwater Hall

The Hall

Beverley Knight

Markus Stenz

Liza Minnelli

Jack Jones

Tommy Emmanuel

Nick Lowe

Spencer Tunick at The Lowry, June 2010 © William Ellis

You may have seen an earlier post about meeting Spencer Tunick last year – he was in Manchester quietely doing a recce for the shoot. The Lowry had commissioned him to create the work to mark the 10th Anniversary of the superb arts venue – an excellent idea which has worked brilliantly for them in every respect and given the gallery a compelling body of work.

At the opening I was struck by the relaxed yet very purposeful feel to the images and how Tunick had captured the spirit of Lowry’s paintings of the people of Salford walking in another age. Exhibition