Mr. Cool... death of a legend...

jackhammer · 10-27-2010, 06:17 PM

R.I.P. The very definition of Lover's Rock.

bethlesser · 01-28-2014, 12:35 PM

Excuse me for interrupting, but I would like to correct a mistaken photo credit that appears above, The photo of Gregory was, in fact, taken by me - you can look it up anywhere in the internet- in 1983. It was not colorized. it was taken on color slide film

Beth Lesser

Freebase Dali · 01-28-2014, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin B.

Below is my favorite picture of Gregory. I snapped it on my first visit to the African Museum Record Store in 1980. I think Gregory still thought I was a CIA agent back then and he scowled at the camera when I snapped the picture. I like it because it's a picture of Gregory in his Kingstonian element hanging out with the brethren in front of his store and recording studio. I sent a copy of the picture to Gregory and later I noticed to photo was colorized and appeared on the back of one of his UK albums a year or so later. I didn't get a credit for the photo, probably because Gregory couldn't remember who gave it to him.

Rest in Peace, Gregory. You will always be the Cool Ruler.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bethlesser

Excuse me for interrupting, but I would like to correct a mistaken photo credit that appears above, The photo of Gregory was, in fact, taken by me - you can look it up anywhere in the internet- in 1983. It was not colorized. it was taken on color slide film

Beth Lesser

Gavin B. · 01-28-2014, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bethlesser

Excuse me for interrupting, but I would like to correct a mistaken photo credit that appears above, The photo of Gregory was, in fact, taken by me - you can look it up anywhere in the internet- in 1983. It was not colorized. it was taken on color slide film

Beth Lesser

Dear Beth:

Allow me to apologize. You may well be be the photographer of that picture of Gregory in front of the African Museum store.

Let me explain my error. When I was living in Jamaica I took hundreds of photos of reggae artists and producers, most of which I gave away to the subjects of my photographs. For me, taking pictures was a way of getting to know the subjects of my photographs and to further appreciate the wondrous music they were playing. Most of my subjects loved getting the photos of themselves, whether the photos were posed or candid shots. I never asked for credits or royalties for any of the pictures I took.

When I gave up photography in the late Eighties I sold all my equipment and destroyed all my negatives. So I think my memory was playing tricks on me when I thought the photo was mine... But I did take a number of photos of Gregory both inside and outside of the African Museum, I believe sometime around 1980. I still come across photos that people said I took of them, which I have absolutely no memory of taking. After all it's been 30 years since I held a camera in my hand.

I do remember that day when I took 30 to 40 photos of Gregory at the African Museum but I can't say without uncertainty that photograph you claimed to have taken, was actually one of those photos I took.

I was relying more on my memory of that day, than my first hand knowledge actual photo which undoubtedly was taken by you. When I saw it posted on the internet, I made the false assumption that the picture was one of the photos I took of Gregory 34 years ago. I was wrong to make that assumption.

I'm glad you raised the issue with me and I apologize for taking credit where credit was not due.

Gavin B.

Freebase Dali · 01-28-2014, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin B.

Dear Beth:

Allow me to apologize. You may well be be the photographer of that picture of Gregory in front of the African Museum store.

Let me explain my error. When I was living in Jamaica I took hundreds of photos of reggae artists and producers, most of which I gave away to the subjects of my photographs. For me, taking pictures was a way of getting to know the subjects of my photographs and to further appreciate the wondrous music they were playing. Most of my subjects loved getting the photos of themselves, whether the photos were posed or candid shots. I never asked for credits or royalties for any of the pictures I took.

When I gave up photography in the late Eighties I sold all my equipment and destroyed all my negatives. So I think my memory was playing tricks on me when I thought the photo was mine... But I did take a number of photos of Gregory both inside and outside of the African Museum, I believe sometime around 1980. I still come across photos that people said I took of them, which I have absolutely no memory of taking. After all it's been 30 years since I held a camera in my hand.

I do remember that day when I took 30 to 40 photos of Gregory at the African Museum but I can't say without uncertainty that photograph you claimed to have taken, was actually one of those photos I took.

I was relying more on my memory of that day, than my first hand knowledge actual photo which undoubtedly was taken by you. When I saw it posted on the internet, I made the false assumption that the picture was one of the photos I took of Gregory 34 years ago. I was wrong to make that assumption.

I'm glad you raised the issue with me and I apologize for taking credit where credit was not due.

Gavin B.

Gavin,

Just wondering... you took a picture of Gregory Isaacs in front of that same African museum store and in the same general pose 3 years earlier? Do you still have those pictures you can post for us? I'm sure the fans would love to see them.

Gavin B. · 01-29-2014, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Gavin,

Just wondering... you took a picture of Gregory Isaacs in front of that same African museum store and in the same general pose 3 years earlier? Do you still have those pictures you can post for us? I'm sure the fans would love to see them.

I'm not even sure if I took a picture of Gregory in the same general pose but I did visit him at the African Museum store and took several pictures of him. I had the pictures developed and gave them all to Gregory a few days later. It was 34 years ago and I remember very little about the specific poses. I took thousands of pictures over the 3 years I lived in Jamaica.

My faulty memory is why I was mistaken about the provenance of the photo in the first place. I saw the photo on an internet photo site and assumed it was one of the pictures I had given Gregory.

In the entire time I've been posting on MB, I've never taken credit for any other photo, but in the African Museum photo, I was 90% certain that particular photo was one I took. As it turns out, 90% wasn't good enough.

I'd love to post them but I have no pictures. I sold all of my equipment and destroyed all my negatives when I gave up photography over 25 years ago. The reason why I quit taking pictures was I was accepted to a master's degree program in psychology that was fairly challenging and I didn't want any hobbies to distract me from school work. I also sold all my musical instruments during that same period and stopped playing music.

I'm not a very sentimental person and I've moved so many times I don't think I possess a single object that I owned 25 years ago, except maybe my birth certificate and social security card. I've even sold or given away all of my vintage record collection because I got tired of toting the records around every time I moved to a new residence... Which amounts to 8 or 9 moves in the last two decades.

I've already publicly acknowledged my mistake and apologized to Ms. Lesser. I hoping that's enough for her.

10-27-2010, 06:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	R.I.P. The very definition of Lover's Rock. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

01-28-2014, 12:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
bethlesser Groupie Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 1	Photo credit Excuse me for interrupting, but I would like to correct a mistaken photo credit that appears above, The photo of Gregory was, in fact, taken by me - you can look it up anywhere in the internet- in 1983. It was not colorized. it was taken on color slide film Beth Lesser Last edited by bethlesser; 01-28-2014 at 02:12 PM.