Ross Halfin

Without delving too much into stereotype, Ross Halfin has that worn, raspy voice of someone who has been around the block and back in the company of rock stars and roadies for a decade longer than most of us would deem sensible. Which is exactly what he’s been up to since walking out of art college in the mid-1970s to photograph The Who in concert. There followed the gobbing punk of the Sex Pistols and The Clash, topped up by regular assaults of the ear-bursting, high voltage rock ’n’ roll of AC/DC. The tours have been as far removed from a soothing drive-time playlist as you can imagine, with cross-country convoys led by the likes of Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, Metallica and Kiss. Incredibly, Ross’s hearing seems fine as he talks down the line from LA, where he is taking stock before a shoot later in the week with Ozzy Osbourne.

Now 62, Ross may not be rocking as hard as the acts he’s been following for over four decades, but he keeps a full diary and has recently flown in from Hawaii, where he was photographing Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood. Already, there is a post about the shoot on his website diary page, and one image particularly catches my eye…

I like the portrait of Kirk Hammett playing the guitar by the beach with the sun going down. It could almost be a travel image!

That’s shot on black-and-white film on my Nikon. I only shoot black and white on film. I don’t use digital for black and white – I don’t think it translates well enough.

Why do you still have a preference for black and white?

I think black and white stands the test of time better. You look at something