All That Buzz: Guy Oseary + Rock-N-Roll Photography

Madonna, New York City, 1982 – Photographed by Richard Corman

Music man Guy Oseary has gone live with an idea he had a couple of years ago; Rock Paper Photo.com lets us now browse (and purchase) pop-culture fine art photography focusing on rarely seen images of our favorite music icons. With Live Nation as the Co-Founder, this partnership means that their bringing creative and platinum production quality to the table. Mostly unpublished, the works of 70 photographers can now be browsed and purchased – all in a museum like, gallery format. I’ve followed Oseary’s work and career for quite some time now and I can guarantee a follow and word-of-mouth promo from me, hands down. Entrepeneurs give good inspiration, right? I stayed on this online museum for a hefty couple of hours. Complete with my top photo pics from RPP and a few more words, you may now

Billy Corgan, 2005 – Photo by Wendy Lynch Redfern

Wearing many hats, Oseary starting his entertainment career when he was 17 and morphing into one of the youngest music managers (Madonna, Alanis, Oakenfold) and producers (Twilight, Last Call w/ Carson Daly) in Hollywood. He doesn’t stop there. Scoring the most talked about deal by partnering Live Nation and Madonna, Oseary is also now the principal partner at Untitled Entertainment – the managing company for Hillary Swank, Penelope Cruz and Ashton Kutcher to name a few. He funds projects, he has cameos in films here and there, and he’s released photography books in the past. Sigh, I want a mentoring session pronto – this man is on FIRE!

David Bowie, European Tour, 1976 – Photo by Andrew Kent

When Oseary started making money is when he started investing in photography. Makes perfect sense to me. “You’ll drive from one gallery to the next gallery. It’s not an easy process. It’s a really ancient model that hasn’t caught up with the times so I really came up with this idea out of frustration”, he stated in the Hollywood Reporter earlier this week. The next step was having another discussion with Live Nation CEO/President Michael Ramino and you probably can guess what happened next…

The Beatles, The Mad Day, Summer of 1968 – Photo by Tom Murray

Here’s a little blurb from the RockPaperPhoto About section. It surely started an internal brainstorm of how Smashbox Studios can team up with RPP and until I make contact, a little Yello! love will do. For now.

“We love great photography.  A great photograph captures a mere fraction of a second in time.  That great moment when the eye, the mind and the heart combine.  From the iconic to the never-before-seen archives we’re discovering every day.  A great photo should capture the attitude, the soul and the mind of a great moment…

Barbra Streisand, 1962 – Photo by Glen Embree

…Part of our mission is to preserve these great moments.  We remember where we were and what we were doing when they happened.  Our photographers spend their lives covering great moments in music, sports, fashion, Hollywood, and the performing arts.  And like those great personalities, each of our photographs speaks in its own voice.  Loud, defiant, quiet, unassuming. It should be simple, but we know it isn’t.  That’s why we created Rock Paper Photo.”

Thanks to THR for turning me on to this brilliant venture!