Interview: MPB Meets Iconic Music Photographer Jill Furmanovsky

Throughout her 50-year career, legendary music photographer Jill Furmanovsky has shot the world’s biggest artists and bands. During the 70s, Jill shot everyone from Bob Marley and B.B King to the Buzzcocks and Blondie, Led Zeppelin to Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis to Michael Jackson, Joy Division to the Jam, and the Rolling Stones to the Ramones—not to mention the Clash, Kate Bush, Chic and Queen. Nico, Pink Floyd and the Who, too. 

Into the 80s, Jill captured the Cure and the Cramps, Morrissey and James Brown, and through the 90s was Oasis, Björk, KD Lang, Jeff Buckley, Grace Jones, Siouxsie Sioux, Sinead O’Connor and Tom Waits. Entering the new millennium, there was Elvis Costello, Amy Winehouse, Florence and the Machine, and many, many more. 

In fact, it would’ve been easier to mention the artists Jill Furmanovsky hasn’t photographed over the years.

Now, Jill Furmanovsky’s exhibition—Photographing the Invisible: 50 Years of Rock Photography, supported by MPB—is open at Manchester Central Library. In this interview, Jill talks with MPB about her iconic half-century career, her favourite images and how the photography industry has changed since the 70s. Read on to learn more.

MPB: Congratulations on fifty years of shooting music photography, it’s a remarkable achievement. When you started back in the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park all those years ago, did you ever think you’d have such longevity?

JF: I didn’t think anything at the time, I was simply compelled into action by the opportunity to be a photographer in an area that I loved. Once I began my only wish was to be able to earn enough so I could continue forever—now forever has arrived!

MPB: Your go-to camera setup must have changed over the years—could you tell us what you shoot with now? And any pieces of kit from your career you have had a particular attachment to over the years?

JF: Currently I’m shooting with a Leica M10-P Black Chrome with a 50mm f/2 Summicron-M and a 35mm f/2 Summicron-M ASPH. I still use my old Canon EOS 5D and associated lenses, but I need to upgrade that part of my kit. To me, the best camera is one you’re familiar with—so you can just get on with taking pictures. 

In the early film era, I used the Pentax Spotmatic and then the Nikon FE. I went on to use the Nikon F4, and then Nikon F5, before I succumbed to digital in 2005. At that point, I changed to Canon—but only because they were a bit ahead of Nikon at the time. In the film era I used to shoot personal images with a Leica M6, and work in the studio with a Hasselblad 500C. I’ve also shot some good material with Olympus cameras. 

Now, perhaps, I should try Fujifilm or Sony, certainly a mirrorless camera of some kind. The brand of camera is less important to me than making myself fluent in its particular language.

MPB: What are the biggest changes have you made over the years to adapt to this digital age compared to when you started out, whether that be in kit or technique?

JF: It has been and still is a big learning curve. Before embracing digital cameras, I embraced Photoshop and the ability to make beautiful archival inkjet prints. For me, that was the revolution. 

For the subject to be able to see what you are doing as you go along has pluses and minuses psychologically. In some ways the digital age is incredible and in other ways, it has killed aspects of creativity by making things too easy and therefore devalued. The Leica I use now slows me down – that’s what I like about it. Less editing too. It’s inevitable that there will be technical changes over a 50-year period – no point in rejecting it.

MPB: Are there any artists you’ve shot that you could single out as favourites?

JF: Oasis were probably my favourites. They allowed closeness and proximity, and it was a crazy era, so a great combination to shoot. Also, I was so experienced by the time I worked with them I could shoot anything. Nothing phased me. 

MPB: What would you say is the best advice you have received during your career? 

JF: “Microphen, 68 degrees, nine and half minutes!” Shouted over a drum solo by the great photographer Michael Putland when we were in the pit at the Rainbow Theatre.  It was in answer to my question “How do you up-rate your film?”. It was Tri-X or HP5 in those days, and you couldn’t up-rate much higher than 1,600 ASA [ISO]. When I think that modern cameras can shoot with ASAs of 26,000 and more, it blows my mind!

MPB: What’s your advice for aspiring music photographers who are looking to make it in the industry?

JF: There isn’t much industry to ‘make it’ in. That’s the first hurdle. You may have to create your own. In a nutshell, I would say just learn how to be a good photographer—a very good photographer. And, in the digital age, learn how to shoot moving images and record sound, too. Then follow what attracts you and see what comes your way.

MPB: Your remarkable archive includes both portrait and live performance shots—which do you prefer? How does your approach differ between them?

JF: My first love was live shots, and I still love to shoot concerts. Being in that thin sliver between audience and musicians is like a meditation. It’s a privilege, and you don’t have to talk to anyone. On the other hand, taking a portrait is a way to have real intimacy, which lasts only a few seconds, with a complete stranger. It is very powerful.

MPB: What drives you to keep going after achieving so much?

JF: It’s the unpredictable spirit of adventure that continues to thrill me in photography. What I don’t enjoy is editing vast amounts of material on a computer afterwards. A huge unseen backlog exists in my archive. The retrospective and documentary projects have forced me to stop and look at material I haven’t seen in years. Some of it is a revelation, and thrilling. But, that said, there’s nothing to compare with being on the front line like a beagle on a hunt!

MPB: Music photography—like professional photography more widely—is an often male-dominated industry. Was it harder for you, back in the 70s, to break through? Do you think the industry has improved since then? And what more do you think could be done?

JF: The profession is much less white/male-dominated now. And about time, too. In the 70s, I found there were some advantages to being female—as well as setbacks. Just as hard, and nothing to do with my gender, was being young and inexperienced. You weren’t taken seriously. 

There have always been a few underdogs who have broken the glass ceiling—or equivalent—by defying the barriers of race, gender or any other prejudice. They are the people being interviewed on Desert Island Discs and they come from all professions and all walks of life.

MPB: Could you tell us a little more about Rockarchive? It’s a spectacular collection of photographers and their images.

JF: I’m very proud to have founded the Rockarchive collective, which is 25 years old this year. I can’t say it has been ‘a success’ in terms of being a lucrative company. Really, it should have been set up as a charity or a public resource. Its intention was to be a portal to rock photography, an archive of archives that could be made into a museum or centre for cultural studies. That this has still not happened is frustrating to me. I think it will happen, but perhaps after my time.

MPB: After fifty years in the industry, what’s next for you? You have a retrospective exhibition—could you tell us more about that?

JF: The exhibition opens at the Manchester Central Library on 14th April and closes on 24th June 2023. After that, I hope it will tour in some form. I’m working on it now and it’s daunting. There is so much material to consider and I want to show unseen work whenever possible. 

There is also a documentary on my work that is nearing completion, so it’s a time to look back and celebrate the last 50 years. I feel very lucky to have had this career. I would say the focus of the exhibition is on being a photographer, rather than being a rock-and-roll photographer—although I am comfortable with that title now. Hanging out with musicians is sublime, but is second to being an accomplished photographer, a camera virtuoso! 

Jill Furmanovsky’s exhibition, Photographing the Invisible: 50 Years of Rock Photography, is supported by MPB and is open until 24th June 2023 at Manchester Central Library, Manchester, UK. See more of Jill’s work and purchase prints at the Rockarchive. Or, read more interviews on the MPB content hub.