Baron Wolman

b.1937 - d.2020
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, on June 25th, 1937, Baron Wolman grew up listening to his mother’s classical and show-tunes records. After attending Northwestern University he volunteered for the Army, serving time in its counterintelligence program in Berlin. While in Germany, he took his first published photograph: a shot of the building of the Berlin Wall for the Columbus Dispatch, which paid him $50. After his service, Wolman relocated to Los Angeles, where he produced ballet productions (his wife, Juliana, was a dancer) and shot publicity photos for his first music act, the Kingston Trio. After 18 months, they headed north to San Francisco, where he met the writer Ralph Gleason and Jann Wenner, who told him of their plans to start a serious, journalistically minded music and culture magazine. 

Already an established photographer for such magazines as Life and Look, Baron Wolman's astounding contribution to the realm of rock 'n' roll began in 1967 when he became the chief photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine, and his pictures appeared in virtually every issue through 1970. Baron Wolman lived in the Haight-Ashbury during the "Summer of Love." During the electrifying era, his lens captured such legendary 1960's icons as Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Iggy Pop, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Phil Spector, Jim Morrison, Ike and Tina Turner, and Timothy Leary.

Wolman left the Rock & Roll photography business and went on to work as a commercial photographer in the fashion and advertising worlds, as well as for the aviation industry - while also learning to fly himself! He started a publishing company and moved to Santa Fe, where he stayed for the rest of his life. He passed away peacefully in November, 2020.