TOM O’NEAL: MOMENTS IN TIME

Photographer Tom O’Neal—who has shot Joni Mitchell, the Rolling Stones, B.B. King, The Doors etc.—was one of the first pop culture photographers to blend into the physical and emotional environment of the moment for album covers and magazines like Interview, Rolling Stone & Time. Forty-five years later, O’Neal’s prints are in high demand and selling better than ever. TREATS! talks to the legendary shooter about when he met Joni Mitchell, being a fly-on-the-wall with the Rolling Stones & and his impromptu photo shoot with Jim Morrison.

by Harvey Kubernik

 

 

What drew you to photography?

I was studying painting and design at the University of Illinois in Chicago.  One of the design courses I took at the end of college was in photography. So I made that transition from painting to photography. All the fundamentals I learned in art transferred very beautifully into photography. I then realized I could go click and do a painting. I got my first camera in Chicago. An Exacta. By the time I finished college, California was in an experimental stage with psychedelics and it was affecting all the art. Everything was flowing and distorted.

You came to the West Coast and started taking photos at music events, right?

I was in Monterey and had heard record producers Terry Melcher and Lou Adler were coming to town to talk to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors for the final permits for the Monterey International Pop Festival. I had gone to school in Beverly Hills with Terry and wanted to see him. I stood up front, waited for their limousine to arrive, and had a Mamas and Papas photograph Guy Webster had taken that had been printed in Playboy and I copied that and did my own psychedelic design around it. Adler then directed me to Derek Taylor, who was doing the PR for the event, and I shot the festival.

 

 

You then spend 1967-1974 shooting music subjects like Joni Mitchell, Poco, Crazy Horse, The Doors, the Mamas and the Papas, and B.B. King. What makes a great photo?

A great photo has to be created from the heart. It has to have that connection. Whether you are photographing a tree or a person, you’ve gotta connect with it somehow. It has to have emotion. And if that emotion transfers from what you feel when taking these pictures to the person looking at it, that’s what makes a great photo.

 

And what is the feeling from your end in the preparation aspect just before snapping the image?

I try and capture the burst of excitement. I call it the “peak of the action” and the “peak of the moment.” It’s that brief millisecond of life where it’s right there—like a ballet dancer jumping. Or you can also think of it as a big ocean wave. As the wave is building there’s a point where it finishes going to the crest and then it starts its fall of descent. It’s all about that peak moment of action.

 

 

What about shooting initially black and white photos and then moving into using color film?

In black and white you’re a step away from reality. Once you get away from reality you get into fantasy. And that’s why I like black and white so much. We as humans, our minds like to step away from reality….Just a step away. That’s why black and white has so much impact. And when you take color away, now all you see is the gesture, the tree, or Mick Jagger prancing around on stage; when you don’t see all the color, you are much more aware of the gesture and that moment. And it’s all about getting to the moment.

 

You took photos of the Rolling Stones 1972 at one of their concerts in Los Angeles. How did you connect with Mick in the first place?

Previously I had worked on an album for B.B. King, who opened for the Stones on their 1969 U.S. tour. And there was a connection between me and a couple of guys who I met working on the B.B. King album. And collectively we came up with some design idea for the Stones’ Exile on Main Street album. Mick’s P.A., Chris O’Dell, then calls and says, “Mick wants to see you.” So I went up to his rented house in Bel-Air and made my presentation and he liked it; I had raised the lettering on The Rolling Stones by a quarter inch. He was concerned about packaging costs like he had on Sticky Fingers so there was a hesitation. So he said, “I still like it and maybe we can talk about photography.” So I went to the recording studio and decided to be a fly on the wall and not take photos. That is extremely important to a photographer: When to own the moment and when not to do it. And then I got set me up with some concert passes and I did some live shots. I came early, looked around, then set up to the left of the stage, and I got Jagger. He’s like a leopard, like puma, bouncing all around and leaping. And here I was trying to get that shot with no auto focus. It was like being in combat.

 

 

Your photos of B.B. King are really unique.

B.B. was in Las Vegas playing at the Aladdin Hotel. So that’s why we shot in Las Vegas. I didn’t even ask him to travel anywhere. The assignment was from ABC records and they wanted an album cover. I wanted to do a real B.B. King photo and do something different that was unexpected. So I called him at 1:00 pm and I woke him up. He got in my car at 3:00 pm with one of his buddies. I had a guy with me to help me, and we decided to go to a dry lakebed about 45 minutes outside Las Vegas. It was a painted desert, and B.B. even wore the perfect colors. He had brown pants, a yellow shirt, and pointed dress shoes. B.B. was a classic southern gentlemen. One of the most polite and nicest people I have ever met.

 
Did you connect with him right away?

I really connected with him but it took a while. When I suggested a shot with him and his guitar, Lucille, he got relaxed and took his shoes off. And then he took his shirt off. I also took him into an environment away from the stage. Not the same live shot with him playing in front of people.

 

 

You also photographed Joni Mitchell in the late ‘60s.

Yes. One of the major things that happened to me, through the Monterey International Pop Festival, was connecting with David Crosby. I had gotten special photo passes for Monterey through Derek Taylor, and a mutual friend made sure to get some pictures of David Crosby, who was in the Byrds at the time. Next thing I know, I was with Larry Spector, and my first assignment was with the actor Brandon De Wilde, which led to Peter Fonda, and Dennis Hopper. Long story short, I was with David the day he was fired from the Byrds and he was looking for something to do. David then meets Joni in a coffee house and flips out. She writes “Song To A Seagull” and then gets a record deal and David then calls me to photograph her at a house in Coldwater Canyon. Joni comes downstairs and sat down and played “Song To A Seagull” in the middle of the living room and I clicked away. I put the camera down half way through and tears started coming down my face. It was one of the most beautiful things I ever heard. I kept the black and white negatives.

 

How did your Jim Morrison photos come about? They seem very candid and revealing.

Yes, I was being aggressive. I had seen the Doors perform and thought they had a hypnotic way. And Jim seemed a little…crazy. I had to figure out how to get real good access to these guys. The Smothers Brothers show always had a rock act every week so I went to see the art director and he eventually let me come up into the booth and watch rehearsal while he was calling camera angles. And I’m there for The Doors’ dress rehearsal! There’s Jim sitting by himself so I go over to sit down and started talking to him. He’s totally different than the guy I had seen on stage.  He’s quiet, reserved, and very nice. He never sat with the band.

 

 

Did you feel like you captured him?

The shot of Morrison looking over his left shoulder was a peak of a moment frozen in time. Jim became a different person once the camera rolled. What really surprised me was for the on air show, where he changed into a black shirt and cleaned up, he really got animated. They all got animated for the show. That was the last time I ever saw the Doors and Jim Morrison.

 

Around 1974 you moved away from music photography and into photojournalism, especially in Africa.

Yes. Basically what happened was around mid-70s, ’78, L.A. was being run on cocaine and I didn’t like the way people were changing. I moved away because it wasn’t fun anymore. And I love people.

 

 

Today your photos and limited edition prints are more in demand than ever. Do you have any advice for young photographers?

Shoot from heart and try and capture the moment.

 

 

Harvey Kubernik has been an active music journalist for 40 years and the author of 5 books, including This Is Rebel Music (2002) and Hollywood Shack Job: Rock Music In Film and On Your Screen. In 2009, Kubernik wrote the critically acclaimed Canyon of Dreams The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon and in 2011 he co-authored the highly regarded A Perfect Haze: The Illustrated History of the Monterey International Pop Festival.