Your favorite rock photography

As I was standing in line at the post office yesterday to mail out some goodies, among them the CDs for the Lucinda contest winners, I remembered that I have one other contest in motion that I need to settle up – the Peter Ellenby photography book winner.

The contest asked for you guys to submit a link to your favorite rock photograph. The images you submitted gave me chills, and in fact that was my primary indicator of who should win — my initial gut reaction. Chills or no chills? This one did it for me:

So, why is Tom is the winner with this picture? I have a theory that sometimes a woman’s eye (the photographer here is Alyssa Scheinson) can capture a moment in a unique way. There is a breathless impact to this shot — the sensual way the light plays off Harvey’s skin without seeming sleazy, and the warm glow of the yellow in contrast with her edgy punk look – it just fascinated me visually.

Here were two runners-up that I also really liked:

Slush writes: Billy Bragg, 42nd st, NYC, 1984 — One of my favorites; Billy Bragg reaching to the masses on 42nd st New York City, oddly enough on 9/11, 1984. This is sort of the opposite of the Springsteen shot. It’s music stripped down to it’s essential elements; just a bloke, his guitar and something important to say. Obviously love the quizzical looks from the passers by, and the way Billy is looking up at the sky. It takes courage to put yourself out there!

The title of this was “clashfullthrottle.jpg” and as Adam writes: “I think the name of the file says it all.”

Indeed.

Even if you didn’t win, I still highly recommend this book and bonus CD: Every Day Is Saturday. If you are perchance a New York-type, Ellenby has a gallery opening with images from the book and a special acoustic show with Nada Surf on Thursday, February 1st from 6 – 8 PM at Brooklyn’s Nelson Hancock Gallery. The show will run throughout the month of February and sounds very cool.

I Turn My Camera On (John McEntire remix) – Spoon
From the Sister Jack CD Single