Cleveland has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now, thanks to a photographer named Essy Ghava-meddini, La Jolla has a Rock and Roll Wall of Fame. The wall is one of several photo-splashed spaces in Essy’s Studio, a new gallery opening July 5 along the stretch of Girard Avenue that slopes down to the cove. The official photographer for the San Diego Sports Arena (now known as the Valley View Casino Center) for more than 30 years, Ghavameddini possesses a rich collection of music luminaries he captured live on stage.
The Rock and Roll Wall is a visual who’s who: Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Jerry Garcia, Taylor Swift — OK, she’s not rock ’n’ roll, but neither is Luciano Pavarotti, who’s also on display. Maybe the most emotion-packed photo is one of a wild-eyed Mick Fleetwood pounding the drums. You can almost feel the ringing in your ears.
Among Ghavameddini’s favorite subjects is KISS. “I love to photograph them,” he said. “They give you so much love, so much respect. They pose for you one by one.” So it’s no surprise that Gene Simmons and company are amply represented at Essy’s Studio.
This is not an exclusively concert-photography gallery. Ghava-meddini devotes another wall to La Jolla’s beaches (particularly Windansea) and sunsets, another to thoroughbreds in full stride at Del Mar, another to the four Super Bowls he’s covered and to San Diego sports heroes, including Junior Seau and the San Diego Sockers that from the early 1980s through the early ’90s dominated indoor soccer. Shooting high-energy, fast-moving sports — Ghavameddini eschews slow-moving baseball and golf — is another of his passions. “I’m an action photographer,” he said. “You never know what you’ll get.”
Ghavameddini’s gallery, a split-level space that includes a photography studio upstairs, is his first such showcase. “It’s time for me to show my work,” he said, adding that he will offer images for sale on site. While he will have a couple of assistants, he said, “I’m a one-man show here. I call my place a museum of my 31 years of work.”
The color rock ’n’ roll photos, which announce their presence the moment you walk into the gallery, are the most compelling and, with apologies to football and sunset devotees, the most fan-friendly. Like the music itself, they exude personality and commitment.
How does Ghavameddini achieve that? Waiting for the right moment, he said, plus a rapport with the rockers from the shadows. “I have a conversation with them with my camera,” he said.
Essy’s Studio is located at 8008 Girard Ave., Suite 190. For more information, visit www.essys studio.com.
