Blues, Brothers The Mule
& The Photographic Journey of Kirk West
by Michael Buffalo Smith I first became aware of Kirk West after dis-
covering the magazine Hittin’ The Note. A die-hard Allman Brothers fan, I ate that magazine up like honey. I kept seeing Kirk’s name in the credits, both as writer and as photographer, and when my first book came out, Carolina Dreams: The Musical Legacy of Upstate South Carolina (Marshall Tucker Entertainment), it was Kirk who wrote a very nice review. In 1998, I started a web magazine
called Gritz, and suddenly, I was seeing Kirk everywhere, at Allman Brothers shows in Charlotte, Gov’t Mule shows in Athens, and once at The Big House, where he and his wife Kirsten invited me and my friend Scott Greene in to look around and drool over the gold and platinum records, posters and massive amounts of Allman swag. Now this was before the place became a mu- seum, but it was still loaded with stuff.
When I wrote a 10,000 word cover story for
Goldmine Magazine on the ABB’s 30th an- niversary in 1999, the magazine contacted Kirk for an amazing cover photo of brother Gregory. He has always been one of my per- sonal favorite rock photographers, and we are pleased to present this exclusive interview, along with some of his iconic images. And this is only the beginning. We will feature more of Kirk’s portfolio in the next couple of issues of Kudzoo.
When and how did you break into pho- tography? I got my first camera from my grandmother when I was about 10. It was a little plastic "Brownie" style camera - green plastic - it shot 620 roll film - 10 pictures per role. I would shoot my life - little things around my world. I was really into cars - model cars- race cars - hot rods - so through my early teens that is what I photographed, car stuff. I sold
Ian Rawn Photo
my first picture to the local newspaper in my hometown, Nevada, Iowa when I was 15. It was of a championship drag race funny car and I was the race team gofer. They won the races and the newspaper wanted the pictures.
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