Richard E. Aaron

b.1950 - d.2016
One of the best known rock photographers in the world, Richard E. Aaron was on-stage and backstage documenting some of the most important events in music history. His career as a rock 'n' roll photographer took him around the world - several times, in fact. But there were a couple of places that remained the same no matter what town he happened to be in that night - The Pit and Backstage. As a working professional photographer, these spaces were home to Richard the majority of evenings on any given week. When he wasn't shooting a live performance or backstage, Richard would work out of his studio, a Manhattan brownstone with 18 foot ceilings and 8-foot-high windows that was perfect for shooting in natural light. His studio was filled with a photographer's paraphernalia: strobe lights, umbrellas diffusers, light stands and tripods, and huge seamless rolls of paper.


In a career that spans over three decades, Richard E. Aaron has shot still photography for a wide variety of media, ranging from feature films, television and video to corporate public relations, entertainment publicity and album covers.

Perhaps best known for his music photography, he was honored by Modern Photography Magazine as one of the "10 Best Rock Photographers" in the world, he has hundreds of album covers to his credit including "FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE," still the biggest selling double live LP.  He shot the first photographic rock 'n' roll cover of Time magazine - Paul McCartney/Wings Over America. All told, his work has appeared in more than 45,000 magazines, newspapers and books worldwide.

His extensive work in music photography (4,000 musical artists photographed) includes, "Fleetwood: The Visitor in Africa" (RCA Records), a tour shot on location in Ghana West Africa. Similar projects for many top rock & roll groups around the world followed. He traveled through the People's Republic of China for several months, where he documented the first Western rock group to record an album and tour.

He graduated from the School of Visual Arts BFA (New York City) Alumnus of Brooks Institute with an Honorary Master's Degree awarded in 2008. (Brooks Santa Barbara, California).

Richard Aaron died in December, 2016.

His photographs are now available as "Estate Stamped Limited Editions" although a number of signed examples remain. Please contact us for more details if you are interested in acquiring his signed photographs.