Mark Seliger's book is filled with a riveting cast of characters culled from the celebrity subjects he shoots as the chief photographer for both Rolling Stone and US magazines. A particularly stirring image is a 1987 Rolling Stone shot of Perry Farrell watering a sunflower garden. It is a powerful photograph, made all the more so by the fact that it is the image that essentially launched Seliger's career as one of today's leading music photographers. In the book's introduction, Eric Bogosian discusses the public's infatuation with celebrity, and how it is the photographer's job to capture that fleeting moment, that millisecond that encompasses the subject's spirit. And the artists that Seliger has caught in these moments are wildly diverse. His portraits of musicians range from seldom-photographed country stars like Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells to Marilyn Manson, Tom Petty, Curtis Mayfield, and Courtney Love. His portraits of Drew Barrymore are among the best of her to date: the playfulness of Barrymore's personality shines through his depictions of her as Alice in Wonderland, a sumo wrestler, a boxer, and the only female boy scout at the mercy of her troop. Seliger displays a keen sense of color, and these photos jump off the page shouting for attention. His black-and-white portraits seem to try for a greater intimacy, and even though they still convey Seliger's sense of play, they are less theatrical than his flamboyant color work. There are, though, beautiful black-and-white portraits here of Sean Penn, Kurt Cobain, Joni Mitchell, and John Lee Hooker, to name a few. Seliger writes: "One of the challenges and benefits of working for Rolling Stone and US is having the opportunity to capture artists just as they're breaking through." This collection includes some very early photos of celebrities readers have come to know well over the years--and it is a fascinating to see how much of their personality he's captured on film. --Amra Brooks

Mark Seliger started shooting for Rolling Stone in 1987. Since 1993, as chief photographer for Rolling Stone and also photographer for US and Men's Journal, he has taken over 100 covers and done hundreds of feature stories. His work figures prominently in the bestselling books Cobain, Images of Rock and Roll, and Crazy, Sexy, Cool. In addition to his magazine work, he has shot high-profile ad campaigns (for Gap, Nike, Wrangler, Fuji, and IBM), television commercials, and award-winning music videos.
Eric Bogosian is the author of three full-length plays- Talk Radio, subUrbia, and Griller- and a well-known performance artist.