Roberta Bayley: She Just Takes Pictures

About

Howl! is pleased to present the world premiere of Beth Lasch’s Roberta Bayley: She Just Takes Pictures.

The documentary showcases Bayley’s punk-era photography from 1975 to 1986. Among the artists Bayley has photographed are Iggy Pop, the Ramones, Debbie Harry and Blondie, Richard Hell, Elvis Costello, the Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Ian Dury, Brian Eno, Nick Lowe, The Damned, The Clash, the Dead Boys, X-Ray Spex, Squeeze, and a reunited New York Dolls.

The film includes candid interviews with the photographer and a peek into her longtime St. Marks Place apartment. Included are all of Roberta’s iconic photos—behind-the-scenes images, classic live shots, and intimate portraits, plus many others rarely seen. The 33-minute film was created for Lasch’s television show F#TV and will be followed by a Q&A with Bayley and the director.

Arriving in New York in the spring of 1974, Bayley soon began working the door at CBGBs—New York’s legendary punk club—photographing the musicians who played there. She soon went to work for Punk Magazine and is one of the main photographers to visually chronicle the early punk-rock scene.

Bayley’s photographs are featured in countless books and magazines on punk. She has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Sydney, Paris, Austin, Portland, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, and Pittsburgh. She co-wrote Patti Smith: An Unauthorized Biography (Simon & Schuster, 1999) and published Blondie: Unseen 1976-1980 (Plexus, 2006), her take on the seminal new-wave band. She appeared on-screen as a hooker in the gritty independent feature film Downtown 81 which starred Jean-Michel Basquiat and chronicled New York’s downtown 80s art scene.