Behind-the-scenes stories: “Copeland hit Sting hard, and even I would have hit him sometimes.”

Bob Dylan was one of the reasons Lynn Goldsmith (Detroit, 1948) started writing songs. If her mother had bought her a guitar, it was because of him. So when she was called in 1975 to immediately take some photos of him, she had to decide whether to arrive with the intention of creating an image that would convey the person and his music... or if she would come in as a fan.

“If I went as a fan, I'd never make a good portrait,” explains the legendary rock photographer, who is presenting her first solo exhibition in Spain, which has flown from New York to Contrast Ibiza. It opened this week at Sa Punta des Molí: twenty images taken from her book , Rock and Roll Stories , and ranging from portraits of Bob Dylan to others of her good friend Patti Smith—she shot the cover of his album Easter (1978), which features Because the Night —or of Michael Jackson during the Victory Tour (which earned her a World Press Photo), of U2 or The Police, when they were recording Ghost in the Machine on the island of Montserrat, or, much earlier, the famous photo of the Beatles' feet at the Doville Hotel in Miami.

“Don’t you want to photograph my face?” Lennon asked, taking her arm. “I looked at him with disdain. In 1964, I wasn’t interested in the Beatles. I only photographed their shoes because they were like James Brown’s.”

“Don’t you want to take a picture of my face?” John Lennon asked, taking her arm. “And I just looked at him disdainfully, wanting him to let me go. In 1964, I wasn’t interested in the Beatles. He’d just turned 16, and I thought his big hit, ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand,’ was a really silly song. I liked the Rolling Stones, I was a fan of Little Richard and James Brown, so I didn’t want anything to do with the Beatles. I only noticed his shoes because they were like James Brown’s… Imagine how much I’ve come to regret that.”

That's how she managed to publish her first photo. The newspaper thought she must be the only young girl in Miami Beach who didn't want anything to do with the Beatles... The dilemma between the inevitable fan and professional sides presented itself later, with that first episode with Bob Dylan in 1975. This is explained by this artist who today paints and writes, but back then composed songs with people like Todd Rundgren, Nile Rodgers, and Steve Winwood, had a rock television show, was manager of Grand Funk Railroad, and, finally, catapulted the Boss with the book Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, from the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour. She never really intended to make a living taking photos; she just liked taking them and always carried a camera with her. But she gradually saw that it gave her freedom and access to people and places.

“There was a small recording studio, Secret Sound, that my friend Todd Rundgren set up, where I used to record my demos. A guy named Mugi owned it, and one night he called me, like, ‘Bob Dylan’s here. You have to come take pictures of him.’ I asked him if he’d asked his permission. I didn’t really believe it, but I took a taxi. I was like in a trance, and I kept saying, ‘I’m going to shoot Bob Dylan, I’m going to shoot Bob Dylan…’ And the taxi driver stopped because he wanted to kick me out: ‘Get out! I don’t want any murderers in my car.’”

I knew the studio elevator opened directly into the living room, and I had to decide: did I go as a photographer or as a fan? The doors opened, and Bob Dylan was there.

Goldsmith knew she had to calm down. She knew the studio elevator opened directly into the room, and she had to decide: was she going as a photographer or was she going as a fan? “The doors opened, and Bob was right there. I extended my hand because I know if you present yourself as an equal, people respond as equals. It’s not like he offered it to me; I put it in front of him. He shook it, and I said, ‘Hi, I’m Lynn Goldsmith, and I’d like to take some pictures of you.’ He replied, ‘I already have a photographer.’ I looked over, and it was Ken Reagan, whom I knew. ‘With one photographer, you have one point of view; with two, you have two.’ Bob smiled: ‘I see your point of view.’

Bob Dylan and Fred Astaire were the only ones who intimidated her to this extent, the photographer says. “Bob is not a normal human being. The first chapter of my book is titled “Strange Angels,” although it could just as easily have been titled “Crazy Motherfuckers .” It includes Dylan, James Brown, Marianne Faithfull, Prince, and Michael Jackson. They all have different minds. Their brains work differently.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum was Frank Zappa. “I never got into his music much, but he’s the smartest and funniest musician I’ve ever worked with. If I kept quiet, I could always learn something. He had a different kind of intelligence than Bob. He cared about his fans; he was a better human being, more evolved than Bob, who is an incredible poet and a great manipulator. Bob cared a lot about his image; Frank cared about the world, he stood up for rights.”

A great voice impersonator, Lynn says she struggled to capture a solo image of Michael Jackson while documenting the Jackson Five's Victory Tour. "I took advantage of the fact that we were in a hotel, because they were watching us; they didn't want Michael and me to disappear. And I knew that before we went to perform, around 7 p.m., it was getting dark. 'Michael, if we go up to the roof right now, you'll be able to see the magic light,' I said. 'The magic light?'" Goldsmith reproduces the King of Pop's response, in his characteristically candid voice.

She worked a lot with The Police, even documenting their time on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. From there, she chose a photo for the Ibiza exhibition, partly because she knows the name comes from a mountain in Catalonia (in Spain, she says), but also because when she went to document the recording of the album, they argued a lot, especially Stewart and Sting. “I wrote about how people can make incredible music without needing to get along. Sting, Stewart, and Andy were all very intelligent, well-educated, and worldly people, especially Stewart, due to his travels, as his father held a high position in the CIA.”

For Lynn, it was a pleasure being with them because they all had other interests. “They weren't musicians who stayed up late, took drugs, went back to bed, got up again, and played,” she notes. “They all wanted to go to museums or read certain books. Stewart was a filmmaker, Sting was writing a script, Andy always wanted to go out with me to take pictures of wherever we were. It was like being with lifelong friends. They would argue, but Stewart, being taller, would hit Sting hard. And sometimes I felt like hitting him myself, because of the disrespectful way he spoke to Stewart, which was completely unnecessary. That's how they were at the time; they were fed up with each other. Most of these trios, like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, end up hating each other after touring together for a while.”

The one who did have drug problems was Keith Richards, whom the author of Rock and Roll Stories considers a living legend, “just for being alive,” she notes. “He doesn't even have to play anything. The fact that this guy is in his 80s and not only still alive, but still playing, is legendary.” In the photograph hanging on the walls of the exhibition, he appears with his girlfriend, Patti Hansen, whom he married.

Marijuana doesn't bother me or get me high, but whatever Keith was smoking, I asked Patti to get in the shot and we started taking these pictures going around in circles... and I passed out.”

“I knew Keith was doing a lot of drugs, and I didn’t want him to be left high during my shoot. I wanted to get as many pictures as I could while he was still standing. So I went into a room and closed the door, away from everyone except Patti, who was sitting there. He was smoking joints, and normally marijuana doesn’t bother me or get me high, but whatever he was smoking, I asked Patti to come into the shot, and we started taking these pictures going around in a circle… and I passed out. Just breathing the same air in the room. So Keith, my assistants, and Patti partied the rest of the night and left me lying on the floor. And that was it.”

Goldsmith, who still lives in New York today, emphasizes that she was entirely self-taught. At that time, the International Center of Photography (ICP) didn't even exist, and very few universities offered photography courses. People were simply apprentices to someone they admired. She learned to develop good communication with her subjects. She would even show them the photos on a projector to review what they liked and what didn't work, "because I planned to continue working with them. Reviewing the photos and discussing them means you can work faster and do more next time, because they trust what you're doing more. You understand what they like and don't like about themselves, and they also see what you're looking for."

Would you have liked to achieve less posing and more vulnerability in your subjects? “I try to have both. I want the viewer, who in most cases is a fan, to feel that the image reflects a person who truly cares about them. And people who care about each other show that they are vulnerable,” says Goldsmith.

Which of them was the most vain? “Don McLean,” he says. “You know, ‘Bye, bye, Miss American Pie.’ I had to call him out because he didn’t seem to give a damn about his own album cover, so I interrupted the session and threatened to kick him out of the studio. And then he snapped and started being nice.”

The audience had radios to listen to the referees' decisions, and well, they interrupted the broadcast and said that Lennon had been shot and had died.

And with whom did she have the closest relationship? “Being David Byrne's girlfriend, I learned that, as an Italian, Jewish, and Mediterranean woman, I feel that yelling is a way of showing love. But he was Scottish. For him, yelling didn't mean 'I love you.' I yelled at him once, and he never wanted to see me again. The important thing about that story is not that I dated David Byrne, but that when you love someone, you must understand how that person experiences love. Not how you experience it.”

What was the saddest story? “When I was assigned to do a magazine cover story on John Lennon. Since my meeting in 1964, when I missed the opportunity, I hadn't had another chance. But I was on my way to Miami, so I suggested doing it on my way back. They told John Lennon I'd be back, and we set a date to do it. And then, I was out photographing an important football game... people in the audience had transistor radios to hear the referees' decisions, and, well, they interrupted the broadcast and said he'd been shot and died.”