Books 26 Foreword by Debbie Harry Sanctuary Books, 239 pages, $32.50 Mick Rock ...

Foreword by Debbie Harry

Sanctuary Books, 239 pages, $32.50

Mick Rock is one of those icons you almost can't believe is a real person. For one thing, there's his surname, Rock-his actual family name, by the way-one almost too apt for arguably the most celebrated rock 'n' roll photographer alive. He even looks like a rock star, like an elongated Keith Richards, but with fewer pockmarks.

He's known as the Man Who Shot the 70s, and it's easy to see why. He met David Bowie in 1972, became the official Bowie photographer and captured Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Since then, he's shot some of the foremost rock images of the age, including the covers for Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs, Lou Reed's Transformer, Iggy and the Stooges' Raw Power, the Ramones' End of the Century, Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'n' Roll and more. He's also been the chief photographer for The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and has produced and directed the videos found on Bowie's Sound and Vision DVD collection.

Recently he's published a series of books for the most part culled from his classic images-works on Bowie, Iggy and Syd Barrett, among others. His latest, Picture This: Debbie Harry and Blondie, is an oversized, 240-page full-color collection. Explaining his choice of subject, Rock says, "Before Debbie there were no out and out drop-dead female rockers. Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Lulu, Dusty Springfield? Not quite. It would not be an overstatement to say that Ms. Harry changed the face of popular music forever?[She] remains, indisputably, the greatest blonde that ever rocked."

At the beginning of Picture This, we see Harry near the start of her career, sweet and unbelievably lovely, but with a seductive, glam presence and allure. "I don't remember much about the music," Rock says of one of his early encounters with her, "but I responded strongly to Debbie's libidinal pull. I knew that this was someone I could do some magic with photographically."

Over the years, he did-like in 1978, when "we were all still flying high and wild, married to the trifecta of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," during the days of Studio 54 and the Mudd Club. But in the photographs Debbie appears above much of the madness, "more glam than punk," as Rock says. "There's nothing forced about her relationship with the camera."

Then there are some of the pictures that Rock shot of her with her band. "[Harry's band mates] were all rock 'n' roll skinny and were endowed with a good head of hair," Rock says. "They had a great rock 'n' roll look?They certainly compared favorably with England's preeminent punkers, the Sex Pistols and the Clash. I've come across few bands who were better- looking? Debbie wielded such overwhelming physical appeal." The fact that all the men in the band were brunettes gave a remarkable contrast to Harry's blond hair. They, too, appeared to be having a great deal of fun when Rock photographed them.

Perhaps the most intimate, empathic photographs in the volume are the ones Rock took of Harry at home with lover-bandmate Chris Stein. "They were very accommodating," Rock explains. "They just didn't want me to bring any assistant, and Debbie would take care of her own hair and makeup? They were very open and unpretentious. This was really them at home, goofing around, mugging for the camera, and enjoying the shoot. They look so remarkably young and at ease-innocent almost. They had been through a lot together, and the trust between them ran deep and it showed." The photographs Rock produced during this session, only a few of which have been previously published, are probably the most natural work taken anywhere of major rock stars.

Near the end of the book are more-recent pictures of Harry, all taken more than 20 years after the earlier shots. She looks stunning, as beautiful and lovely as ever. "The miracle may be that, unlike her role model Marilyn Monroe, she didn't self-destruct," Rock says. "Certainly she has proven to be much tougher and more durable than anyone would have predicted, given how sweet and vulnerable her 70s persona was. And for someone so identified with the years of their early success, the rebirth of Blondie has proven her to be a transcendent cultural force for the ages."

The same can be said of Mick Rock, who almost died several years ago after years of physical abuse. But he survived a quadruple heart bypass and is busier-and more cheerful-than ever. His work has experienced a renaissance since his illness, and he's planning a film. He shares a blissful private life with his wife and teenage daughter in Staten Island and feels that his work has matured because of all that he's experienced. Not cocky or sanguine about his success, Rock's managed to maintain his own distinct sense of humor about his accomplishments. "When it comes right down to it," he says, "grabbing your destiny is not the same as grabbing your dick." o