The photographer who 'shot the 70s'

He’s been dubbed ‘the man who shot the 70’s’.

Irish photographer Mick Rock is behind some of the most iconic shots of rock legends, capturing the likes of David Bowie, Queen, Lou Reed and Blondie.

"I mean, these people weren't so well known when I first met them. It was all about age and timing, and timing, all these elements coming together."

Now – to mark 51 years in the industry - Rock is collaborating with urban artist Fin DAC on a new project, a series of limited edition prints and canvas artworks called ‘MIDARO’

"So what is it that makes, you know, a picture of David Bowie, man? And I go, yeah, you can't take a bad picture of him. I figured it out before most people but that's an intuitive thing. But I was also, I thought he, there was an intelligence to David. Even though I'd been formally very educated and he hadn't."

London-born Rock first picked up a camera as a student at Cambridge University.

He’d go on to shoot iconic albums for the likes of Queen.

"It was such a fertile period and especially when you get, you know, Bowie and Lou Reed. I used to see them the black and the white, London and, the moody and the sparkling. And, so, I kind of fell in love with them, those two. People say you must be must be crazy about photography, no I'm not crazy about photography. I am fascinated by altered states [...] I took the only path I knew and it wasn't plotted out beforehand. Maybe there was some projection. This bohemian spirit."