Allan Tannenbaum: The work shows you the way
Photographer Allan Tannenbaum on capturing iconic images, from 1970s NYC nightlife to global headlines, and life behind the lens.
Sometimes history hits you over the head—or pokes you in the eye. For legendary photographer Allan Tannenbaum, history unfolded in front of him during the summer of 1964. Sitting in a car on a road trip to San Francisco, he watched an anti-war demonstration from the sidelines and had an epiphany: he needed to capture moments like these.
But Allan didn’t know how to use his friend’s camera that day, so the moment slipped away. What didn’t slip away was the lesson: history is happening all around us, and those who document it become its keepers.
Tannenbaum has spent the last 60 years as one of history’s most extraordinary keepers. Starting with a handful of frames of Jimi Hendrix that snapped at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in the late 60s, Allan went on to chronicle the cultural pulse of 1970s New York as chief photographer for the SoHo Weekly News. He captured unforgettable images—Sid Vicious in handcuffs, Andy Warhol at Studio 54, Patti Smith in her apartment, Keith Haring in his studio, the Rolling Stones at Danceteria, John and Yoko making love in bed, and many more.
In the 80s and 90s, he expanded his lens to the world stage, documenting moments of historical significance: the fall of the Berlin Wall, Operation Desert Storm, and the Rwandan refugee crisis.
But the biggest and most dangerous story of his career, the terrorist attacks on the The World Trade Center, unfolded just six blocks from his home on September 11, 2001. Tannenbaum photographed the explosion of the second plane and Ground Zero between tower collapses.
Walking into Allan’s loft is like stepping through time—walls covered with faces like Salvador Dalí, Joe Strummer, and James Brown. It’s a place where history and artistry converge, much like his photographs.
And while he is certainly a one of a kind person, there is something archetypal about Allan and his story. The suburban Jewish New Jersey kid who comes of age at the dawn of Rock and Roll, drops out of college to spend time in the beatnik fog of San Francisco before the word hippy existed, who plays guitar, rides motorcycles, joins the merchant marines and grows a thick mustache, and somehow manages to find himself just outside of the frame for a lifetime of historical events.
Tucked in quietly among all of the legendary images he has captured are a small handful of photos he took of me over the years, starting with the album cover to my old duo Joy and the Boy’s 2009 Secret Place album which he took in Joy Dragland’s Prospect Heights apartment. More recently he shot the press photos for my 2023 album What’s Trending.
My own personal experience working with him was revealing - I discovered that much of his secret was not in directing his subject but rather in patiently observing and letting them unfold naturally. This is how he captures raw and authentic photographs.
Tannenbaum’s story is one of presence—of being in the right place, yes, but more importantly, being attuned to the significance of the moment.
How, I wondered, did he personally experience all of the history that he captured. Because to be the one who captures something is to be outside of it, somehow removed from it. We got together - many months ago now, I admit - in his Tribeca loft to talk about his personal journey, San Francisco in the 60s, New York in the 70s, a life spent taking iconic and legendary photographs, and how “the work shows you the way”.
“I’m not trying to impose any kind of vision or my thoughts. The job is to capture a person’s personality in a good way.”