If you rewrote Almost Famous to spotlight a photographer rather than a journalist, you might have something like the story of Brad Elterman – the “teenage paparazzo” who, at 16, began skipping school, sneaking into clubs and concerts, hanging out at studios, and taking photographs of the rock legends of his day. And like the Cameron Crowe dispatches that inspired Famous, Elterman’s photographs have a breezy, youthful exuberance, capturing simultaneously the thrill of the teenager taking the picture, and the can-you-believe-this spirit of the subjects, who are barely more than teens themselves.
We first caught up with Elterman’s work when he published his book Like It Was Yesterday a few years back; these days, happily, he’s joined Instgram, and is sharing more buried treasures from his salad days. Here are a few highlights.