Longtime fans of fabled Los Angeles punk band Black Flag will likely be immediately struck by two thoughts while looking at What I See: The Black Flag Photographs of Glen E. Friedman: "Where did my youth go?" and "So that's who took all my favorite pictures of Black Flag!"
Readers need not know anything about Black Flag or the punk scene of the 1980s to appreciate What I See. Friedman (Keep Your Eyes Open), who was just a kid with a camera when he started taking pictures of the band, writes in the introduction that punk rock's "rebelliousness, intellectualism, and creativity in the early years were something to behold." He captures this insurgent spirit through the evolution of one band. In both black-and-white and color photography that makes good use of a fish-eye lens, Friedman catches Black Flag as they rock their way through the early 1980s. He also captures changes in the band's lineup; this ultimately delivered the sculpted, tattooed and putty-featured frontman Henry Rollins, who wouldn't lose by much in a contest for the world's most photogenic human.
Many of Friedman's photos of the band midperformance include, critically, galvanized audience members, which reinforces the idea that early punk was a social movement. Friedman--who has also published photography books centered on Fugazi and, in a single volume, Run-DMC and Beastie Boys--has been fighting the good fight with his lens for decades. What I See documents a band standing in for any artist committed to questioning rules and living with integrity. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer