By Echo Vetter
Staff Writer
On February 24th at 11:00 am, The Art Gallery at Volunteer State Community College had the privilege of a visit from renowned British photographer, Alan Messer. For over two hours Messer told stories, answered questions, and shared slideshows of his famous photographs and video footage of iconic rock, pop and country musicians.
Messer’s visit concluded a three-month exhibition, RETRO 50, featuring photographs taken throughout his nearly sixty-year career as a music photographer.
On the morning of Messer’s visit to The Art Gallery, the gallery floor was filled with rows of chairs, and those chairs were filled with VolState students, teachers, faculty and a few of Messer’s neighbors and friends, come to witness, in his role as professional photographer and storyteller, their friendly neighbor, the kind man who helped them clear fallen trees after Nashville’s recent ice storm.
The room darkened for the slideshow, the audience was quiet and attentive as Messer began, smiles on many faces as they recognized, one after another of his infamous subjects.
Messer is a storyteller, as well as a photographer, and his extensive experience spanning many decades has also given him the voice of a mentor. Some of the questions his audience asked him during his visit were biographical:
Where are you from? (England),
How long have you lived in Nashville? (48 years),
How old were you when you became a photographer? (16),
What is your favorite camera? (Nikon first, then Fuji),
When did you switch from film to digital? (2000/2001),
What do the different color markings on your negatives mean? (green means the client likes it, cyan means it is priority),
How did you get your start?
How did you organize your archives before everything became digitized?
Messer was also asked questions about how he takes such striking photographs, how he was able to be so successful as a photographer, and what advice he would give aspiring photographers. To this, Messer acknowledged that getting into the industry is harder today than it was when he began. He advised that you must do and keep doing whatever the thing is that you are wanting to do, “do it and keep doing it”, he said. “I have been a photographer every day since I was a teenager,” he said.
He advised, don’t hesitate, don’t wait, do not delay, take the picture, submit the picture, be the first to submit, the first to produce, no excuses.
He suggested using Instagram to share a person’s work and art. He mentioned submitting to magazines. When asked how he takes such striking photographs, Messer said you want your work to elicit a reaction, a response, you do not want complacency.
People need to feel something, experience something, when they see your work, your art, your photographs.
And he said you can not fake it, it has to be real, form a relationship with the art, and people will feel it.
He said the old polaroid test shots were often better than the photographs that followed. Another reason he loves digital.
Messer said there are two ways to take a photograph; one is by being a fly on the wall, the observer, unnoticed, and the other is by making a connection and having an interaction with the subject. Either approach can create a memorable photograph, art.
Messer’s longest photo session was with Stevie Ray Vaughn. That session lasted eight hours. His shortest photo session was with Keith Richards. That session lasted three minutes. His relationship with Johnny Cash spanned thirty years of fun. Messer’s 1986 photographs of Dwight Yoakam are still used on his current albums.
According to Messer, Elton John is great to work with. And a few years ago at dinner with Pete Townsend, Townsend asked Messer “Was I ever rude to you?”. No, he never was!
Messer has also worked with Diana Ross, the Beatles, Willie Nelson, the Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, The Who, Bob Marley, Jim Morrison, James Brown, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, and more.
Messer’s prolific decades long career began in Dezo Hoffmann’s London studio as a freelancer, and a staff photographer for the pop music newspaper, Record Mirror. It continued as the resident Old Grey Whistle Test photographer (BBC TV), and then Iggy Pop and Deep Purple’s tour photographer. Messer also photographed many American bands and artists either in his London studio or on the road before moving to Nashville to open a studio that quickly filled with new subjects with record companies and country music legends drawn to his British style of photography. He would often shoot a session or an album cover every day; his photographs have been used for hundreds of albums and CD covers.
Messer’s photographs have been featured in projects like Ken Burns’s 2019 PBS documentary, “Country Music”, and both his photographs and video footage included in the 2023 movie, “JUNE”. He won a Grammy for album packaging photography/design.
These days Alan Messer can often be found in his Nashville studio working on his archives, his documentary, and two coffee table books, NASHVILLE and one about Johnny Cash.
Please visit www.alanmesser.com for more fascinating stories and iconic photographs.
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