Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/315819
Rock FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013 MACON MAGAZINE I 23 Sometimes life goes by so fast; there isn't time for reflection. Or so it seemed to photographer Kirk West when he recalled his years as a hustling young photographer in the clubs and concert halls of 1970s and '80s Chicago. "You know, when you're shooting, and you're freelancing, you shoot everything that you have the opportunity to," the bearded, tattooed and gregarious photographer said. "And, if you go out and shoot the (Rolling) Stones, and you know you can only sell three pictures, you pick out the best three, and then you put the rest away." Thirty years and a half-dozen moves later, West is revisiting his past and cataloging the hundreds of thousands of mostly unseen photographic negatives in the attic of his Macon home. The photos captured artists such as Mick Jagger, Bob Marley, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Etta James and B.B. King, among many others, at the height of their creative powers. Bob Marley. Nov. 13, 1979. e Uptown eatre, Chicago. "It's the only time I shot marley. I had seen him twice before and knew the shot I was waiting for and when it came I was ready … a very heavy rasta night, for sure." Waylon Jennings. Aug. 29, 1980. Poplar Creek Amphitheater, Hoffman Estates, Ill. "Ladies love outlaws, and Waylon was the best outlaw there was." Tom Waits. Oct. 19, 1978. Park West, Chicago. "I had gotten to know Tom a bit and shot him repeatedly for several years … He was truly an actor who sang, rather than a singer who posed."