John Conroy
John Conroy trained at Brooks Institute of Photography and got his first assignment in the music world
photographing a Buffy Saint Marie concert in the early 70s. After seeing those
photographs, a music industry colleague invited him to photograph Rod Stewart and a
career blossomed from that session. Conroy spent two years as an apprentice
photographic assistant in Europe. He mentored as an assistant and production
manager for catalogue work with cutting edge Studio PPS in Hamburg, Germany,
and as an assistant to Sam Haskins, a world renowned fine art photographer based
in London.
John later emerged as a freelance photojournalist and with
his music industry portfolio growing, he was offered touring work with Santana.
Many of his clients and subjects became household names we all can relate to
today. Rock bands Santana, Crosby & Nash, Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart &
Faces, The Tubes, The Beach Boys and the Gregg Allman Band. Music industry clients included Pacific
Presentations, Avalon Attractions, FM Productions, A&M Records, and Bill
Graham Presents as well as editorial work for Rolling Stone and Cream
magazines. Today, John still enjoys a career as photographer in the Performing
Arts field, while he continues digging back into his archives to digitally
remaster and restore some incredible images as featured here on Rock Paper
Photo.