Macon Magazine

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013 MACON MAGAZINE I 25 www.dayandennis.com (478) 474-7480 DAY & ENNIS, LLC FEE-ONLY FINANCIAL PLANNING The future looks brighter when you plan for it. "I spent two full years upstairs in my office scanning negatives and reliving my life," West said, chuckling at the enormity of the task. "I have lived long enough so that the people that I had access and intimacy with are icons. These are unseen pictures of icons, so that's pretty cool. I've had a great time." As West's vast collection is painstakingly unpacked, scanned and catalogued with the help of Getty Images, the music world is coming to the realization that the catalogue -- which covers Chicago's blues, rock and country music scenes at a time of cultural flux and upheaval from 1968 to the early '90s -- represents some of the finest work in the history of music photography. West's sharp black and white prints were recently featured on CNN's photo blog, and requests have flowed in from authors and editors around the world looking to use West's images in books and magazines. In addition to well-received gallery shows in New York and Chicago, West is looking forward to the collection's Macon debut at Macon Arts Alliance. The exhibit begins March 1. "We think it's going to be one of our premier exhibits this year," Macon Arts Alliance Director of Communications Jonathan Dye said. "Kirk has worked with so many legendary musicians, and he has been at places where history was made." HOOKED BY THE BLUES Born and raised in the tiny town of Nevada, Iowa, in the 1950s and '60s, West's sole connection to the artists he would someday photograph were Chicago blues and rock radio stations that broadcast the sounds of Paul Butterfield and Junior Walker out across the prairie. "I was enthralled by the music," West said. "The blues hooked me good." A budding interest in photography began when his grandmother bought him a camera, which he used to take photos of hot rods. "I was a little gear head growing up," West said. But when the young photographer moved to Chicago after graduating from high school, music took over as a primary subject. "It was 1968, and (stuff) was

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