Without a doubt, the most important magazine of the rock ‘n’ roll era is Rolling Stone. Started in 1967, the magazine set standards for both journalism and imagery still in place to this day.
While many writers had a hand in creating the stories that filled the magazine during its first three years, most of the visual impact is down to one man, photographer Baron Wolman.
On July 29, The Morrison Hotel Gallery will open a major exhibition of Wolman’s iconic rock photography, which runs through Aug. 20. Along with an opportunity to meet Wolman and view dozens of classic images of the biggest stars of the era, the evening will also include a brief set from guitarist Javier Batiz, a seminal figure in Mexican rock ‘n’ roll.
“For some reason, I always liked to be on the scene,” Wolman said of his initial attraction to photography. “If you had a camera, you could get in the locker room, you could get on the field and things like that.”
He also found that he could communicate better in pictures than in words.
“There were things that I wanted to say that I couldn’t find the words for, but I could take a picture and show someone that,” he said. “That’s really the most important thing.”
Wolman was already an established photographer when soon-to-be Rolling Stone publisher Jan Wenner approached him about joining in. Taking pictures was originally a high school hobby that became a career while in the military.
“I was in Berlin when the wall went up and I sold some stories to a local paper, ‘local boy on the firing line,’ that sort of thing,” Wolman said.
His success prompted him to pursue photography full-time.
“They paid me for that, so I thought, ‘Well, this is something I like to do anyway.’ When I got out of the army, I started going around to the magazines,” he said.
Wolman’s work soon began to appear in national magazines, including Look and Life.
While living in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury area, he met Wenner and began to chronicle rock music history.
“When I met Jan, he told me had this idea for a publication that would really reflect how we all felt about music,” Wolman said. “The only music publications you could get regularly (at the time) were the trades. So you could see how an album was doing, but you didn’t get any sense of who the musicians were, who the players in this wonderful field of music were.”
His residence in the center of one of the hottest music scenes of the 1960s meant that, in addition to access to touring groups, he also knew many of his subjects as neighbors, including Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.
“Some I knew better than others,” he said. “Musicians were always playing in the park and around at free concerts. You knew them because they lived right around you, but they were more our friends than big rock and roll stars at the time.”
For Wolman, it was easy to pick the images in the exhibit.
“They are a cross-section of the musicians who made a difference and really mattered at the time,” he said.

He feels it’s no coincidence the artists he photographed decades ago are still so well known today.
“Our music back then had something about it that’s persisting,” Wolman said. “A lot of kids will listen to contemporary stuff, but they’ll also listen to the older music because it speaks to them. They don’t call it classic rock for nothing.”
While he continued to shoot after leaving Rolling Stone, it’s clear the work he did during the ’60s is what is closest to his heart.
“I love the pictures I took because they represent a period in my life when I was exploring the world, when the world was changing radically,” he said. “It really felt like we were all kind of in this big event together. We also thought we could make a difference in the world, whether it was the war in Vietnam or the way people lived their lives. The photographs really reflect that time for me.”
Wolman is genuinely happy to be able to share his work.
“What I love about exhibiting is that people who were around in the ’60s come to the show and they start reminiscing,” he said. “I’m happy that these pictures give them a window back into the days that meant so much to them.”
“The Photography of Baron Wolman: Rolling Stone Magazine ” The Early Years” opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. July 29 at Morrison Hotel Gallery, 1230 Prospect St.
For more information, visit www.morrisonhotelgallery.com or call (858) 551-0835.