By Jill Furmanovsky

Musician Johnny Borrell of Razorlight was the first person to tell me about Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. He was very impressed with her way back in 2007 and they worked on a few demos together. Johnny invited me to attend a rehearsal at John Henry's rehearsal studio in North London where the two, together with a small backing band, were working on an arrangement for what became "Throwing Bricks."

Florence was a charismatic presence even then. She had that huge voice which filled the room, and as she sang she beat the shit out of a snare drum to illustrate the anger and rage of a song about a woman who builds a man brick by brick and then he becomes stronger than her - an extraordinary song.

 The lighting was nasty - florescent tubes with just a glimmer of daylight through a small window. I took my position to the side of Florence to get a plain background and used the highest shutter speed possible. Her hair was flying and her hands a blur.  Over and over again the four musicians worked on this song and recorded it finally on an old Sony tape recorder.

When I came to edit the shoot I went for the image up top of her in full flow, barely sharp. To make it more powerful I cropped out the drums and the microphone which took the image out of context leaving a simpler image - one that reflects the unleashed raw power of a great rock singer giving it her all. 

Some hours later Florence and Johnny left the studio on Johnny's motor bike. Florence sat on the back, one hand hanging on to Johnny, the other clutching the tape player to her head and swaying dangerously as they rode away.  It is entirely just that she has gone on to become a rising new star.

See more of Jill Furmanovsky's images in Who Shot Rock & Roll, showing at the Annenberg Space for Photography through October 7, 2012. Learn more about Jill on her website, www.rockarchive.com.

Above three images: Florence Welch rehearsing at John Henry's Oct 2007, © Jill Furmanovsky / www.rockarchive.com  - Florence Welch rehearsing at John Henry's Oct 2007

On the day of the Who Shot Rock & Roll gala, the weather was great, the mood was festive and everyone was ready to rock!

Seven of our exhibit featured photographers posed for a group shot upstairs in the offices of the Annenberg Foundation: Norman Seeff, Jill Furmanovsky, Guy Webster, Bob Gruen, Lynn Goldsmith, Henry Diltz and Ed Colver. After a short private reception, everyone made their way downstairs for the big party.

Guests included David Fahey, who co-lectured at the Photography Space just last summer.

The photographers had a great time on the red carpet. In Who Shot Rock & Roll, the photographers are the rock stars!

Ed Colver, who is typically more comfortable behind the camera, gets playful in front of it. Pictured here with Webster.

James Stevenson, Gary Twinn, Glen Matlock, & Frankie Infante.

Diane Lane arrives at the gala with her daughter.

Actor Tim Robbins chats it up with Bob Gruen.

Wallis Annenberg, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, poses with Fran Drescher, Bob Gruen and comedian Richard Lewis.

Ann & Nancy Wilson, members of legendary rock band Heart, arrive to the party and pose with Wallis Annenberg. They were the surprise performance that night!

Dweezil & Moon Zappa on the red carpet. An image of their father, Frank Zappa, (by Jerry Schatzberg) is featured in the exhibit. Read Moon's personal thought on this photo here.

Diane lane takes in the great photos in the exhibit.

Actor Scott Caan and friend pose at the party.

Lauren Greenfield, who has been a featured photographer in two of our past exhibits!

Actress Mena Suvari poses in front of Albert Watson's wonderful large print of Michael Jackson.

Annenberg Foundation Executive Director Leonard Aube made remarks about the exhibit before introducing....

Wallis Annenberg! Wallis spoke about the exhibit and the photographers before introducing the night's surprise performance...

Heart!

Ann & Nancy Wilson rocked!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a special night. We hope everyone has a chance to visit to the Photography Space and check out this very special exhibit!

Photos by Unique for the Space and Lestor Cohen/Wireimage

By Moon Zappa

When I look at Jerry Schatzberg's photo of my famous father’s unsmiling face contrasted with his curly, onyx hair in pigtails (a notoriously joyful hairdo usually reserved for young girls) I have to laugh. Mr. Schatzberg has clearly captured my father’s dry, acerbic wit, his quiet, Buddha-like lucidity, and his naturally rebellious, boat-rocking essence. This is made all the funnier because my father hated having his photo taken.

On the few occasions I was brave enough to ask my father if I could snap his photo, his instant scowl of impatient annoyance was not worth the trouble, (nor what I wanted to remember). So, I waited and begged for the discards from the test Polaroid piles of his shoots with the Professionals of the Still Image Realm. Or I waited and used my mother’s sewing scissors to clip images of Frank Zappa from magazines and newspapers (like everyone else) and pasted the flimsy sheets in my family photo albums alongside fuzzy snapshots I had taken of my mom and my siblings.

Another reason this photograph floods my heart with joy is that I have been led to understand that long hair worn by men in the late 60’s was already an atypical and suspect sight for the times, but that the addition of a symmetrical up-do on a working man was almost criminal. Let’s just say none of my friends have photos of their awesome, heterosexual dads in pigtails in their scrapbooks from that same era.

I have heard it said that the optimist thinks the world is great just as it is, and that the pessimist fears this is true. I love this idea because the malcontent cannot tolerate stagnation and MUST cultivate and protect aliveness. Here, in Mr. Schatzberg’s remarkable image, he illuminates this paradox; from beyond the grave my father continues his steadfast work of challenging us to question assumption, to not settle for the numbing habit of decorum for habit’s sake, to take action against anything that oppresses the human spirit, and to do so with the quiet confidence and humor of a true pessimist.

The photo of Frank Zappa is included in Who Shot Rock & Roll, running at the Annenberg Space for Photography through October 7, 2012.

Top image courtesy of Jerry Schatzberg, Frank Zappa, "Himself", 1967. Right image courtesy of Diva Zappa.

Last night's opening gala at the Photograhy Space was rockin'! It was a great celebration of photography and music amidts a crowd of hundreds of rock & rollers and photographers.

The hundreds of people in attendance were treated to a special surprise performance by the one and only Heart! The group sounded amazing and played an energetic five song set list of some of their classics including "Barracuda" & "Crazy on You." They opened their performance with "Even it Up." Watch a short clip of that above.

We'll have photos from last night's gala to share soon. Stay tuned!