RAWtalk Episode #040 - Bob Gruen, John and Yoko's Personal Photographer

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I had the opportunity to head up to New York City to interview one of the most famous Rock Photographers ever, Bob Gruen. Bob captured Rock and Roll in its heyday, living with bands, joining them on the road and sharing in the lifestyle. He captured one of the most recognizable images in the history of music photography, John Lennon wearing his New York City T-Shirt.

Could you image being asked to be John and Yoko’s personal photographer? Being that close to one of the most respected and successful musicians of all time? Bob was more than just a photographer for them, he was their friend.

I sat down with Bob in his studio in NYC for this candid conversation that could shave gone on for hours. The stories are awe inspiring and leave you wanting to hear more. Lucky for you a documentary on Bob’s work was just released on Showtime so please check your local listings for the viewing schedule.

To check out some of Bobs Photo Books Click Here.

Enjoy this once in a lifetime conversation with Bob Gruen.

This weeks Photo News is Sponsored by ROKINON

Here are the full Photo News Stories with Stephen from this weeks RAWtalk

First up, Apple has revealed the revamp of their stock Photos app on the iPhone in the newly announced upcoming iOS7 via WWDC earlier this week. Several notable changes include the introduction of square-style cropping (which I’m sure many pro-photogs will despise…) and the ability to apply live filters to photos similar to Instagram. The biggest upgrade however, is a new feature called “moments”, which is essentially an organizational system that sorts out your photos based on the metadata.

Users will also finally see their images bundled into groups by event and date in the “Collections” section of Photos, similar to Flickr. Also, you’ll be able to send photos to friends nearby with a new feature called “Airdrop”, which lets you send photos (and other files) to nearby users. Don’t expect it any time soon however, the public release of iOS7 doesn’t hit iPhones until Fall of this year. Check out a screenshot below:

Speaking of WWDC, Apple also announced a long-awaited upgrade to the Mac Pro. The new monster of a machine will support up to 12-core configurations; insane. Notably, they’ve got the fastest ECC memory the company has ever put into its computers, which is clocked at 1866MHz DDR 3–a huge upgrade for photographers editing heavy-duty images in multiple programs. As expected, the new Mac Pros will support FireWire and the brand new Thunderbolt 2 standard. There will also be AMD FirePro graphics capable of running up 4K out of all of its ports–up to three UltraHD displays simultaneously! The new design also has people wondering if it’s either a trash can, or a futuristic monster machine. Pricing hasn’t been announced just yet, however. Expect it to drop later this year with more details to come. Check out the new design below, what do you think?

Adobe released the final public version of Lightroom 5 this week. Thankfully, it’s said to be a huge speed upgrade to Lightroom 4. If you’re nervous about using old catalogs–don’t fret! It will be just like previous versions and will update your Lightroom 4 catalogs automatically. New key features include the introduction of The Upright Tool, which allows users to fix horizons and tilts in your photos, listed under the lens correction option in the Develop module. The Radial Filter is another fresh feature which lets you alter different parts of the photo selectively, similar to the current adjustment brush, but easier.

Meanwhile, The Advanced Healing Brush is a borrowed feature from Photoshop which works much like the Content Aware Fill in PS. It lets you create custom brush shapes, allowing you to remove objects in photos. Another notable feature is The Visual Spot setting which allows you to clean up any sensor dust or other problems that you might find hidden on your image. And finally, the introduction of Smart Previews is extremely convenient. This new feature allows you to edit pictures on the go, creating offline copies of your images so you don’t need your external hard drive with you for on-location editing. The new software will cost you $149 USD brand new or $79 USD if you’re upgrading. Check out a couple sample videos of the key features below and for more, head on over to Lightroom’s YouTube page.

Justin Bieber has been all over the news this past week after the singer stole a paparazzo’s memory card or as Justin likes to call it–a “sim card.” The Biebs originally stole the camera but eventually gave it back to the photog, but decided to keep the memory card for himself (which I’m pretty sure is considered theft). Meanwhile, he also assaulted a photographer by having his bodyguards choke him out during a recent encounter with the press, there’s a 911 call of the whole thing caught on audio which you can listen to below. What are your thoughts on this? Was he right or wrong? (via TMZ)

This is crazy: Photographer Joe McNally climbed to the top of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, to photograph workers that maintain the spire. Apparently it’s incredibly hard to get access to the top of the building. You supposedly need the blessing of the Prime Minster of Dubai and a security clearance that can take up to three years; wow. The cool part? He filmed the whole adventure on a GoPro. Check out the thrilling journey via the behind-the-scenes footage below, would you do that for a couple priceless shots? (via FS)

The Reno Rodeo has banned professional cameras from their events. The newly enforced policy prohibits spectators from bringing in videocams and “professional cameras with detachable lenses.” Rumors have hit the web that the intended target of the ban is animal-rights activists, they claim its intended to prevent them from exposing abuses which is an interesting point of view. However, the rodeo’s publicist defended the policy as a copyright-protection measure, which they’re saying is to prevent unauthorized distribution and selling of images of rodeo stars. Hmm… (via RGJ)

Some more awesome development news in the DSLR world: Fujifilm and Panasonic have joined forces and created an image sensor that supposedly has almost double the dynamic range of the best sensor on the market today–the Nikon D800. The new sensor claims to capture a whopping 29.2 stops of dynamic range, which the d800 only chimes in at around 15.3 stops. The sensor is said to “prevent highlight clipping in bright scenes and capture a vivid and texture-rich image in low light.” Each pixel in the new sensor offers 1.2-times the sensitivity of traditional pixels, creating the record-breaking amount of dynamic range. It could hit the market sooner than later compared to the recently announced 1000x sensor. Which would you rather have? Dumb question, I know… (via Fujifilm)