Jay Blakesberg is a San Francisco-based commercial photographer whose work has appeared in numerous magazines over the last 4 decades including Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Guitar Player and Time among many others. Over the last 46 years his rock and roll journey has seen him work with many legendary artists including The Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Radiohead and Phish to name just a few. He has published 16 coffee table books of his music photography which include books on The Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, and his most recent which is a visual autobiography retrospective entitled RetroBlakesberg – The Film Archives, Volume 1. His work has been exhibited in commercial galleries nationally, and currently a large exhibition entitled RetroBlakesberg: The Music Never Stopped is on display at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco through July 28, 2024.

Retro Photo Archive is owned by Jay and his daughter, Ricki Blakesberg, where Ricki takes lead on image curation on all projects relating to the archive. Retro Photo Archive is a treasure trove of pop culture and music imagery that includes iconic rock n’ roll photographs taken by photographers preceding Jay’s time in the profession, including Ron Rakow, Elizabeth Sunflower, Greg Gaar, Suki Coughlin, Snooky Flowers, Alvan Meyerowitz, John Sievert, and many more.

Retro Photo Archive encompasses a culturally historic body of work chronicling the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Page, Van Halen, The Who, Rod Stewart, George Harrison, Freddie Mercury, and countless others. An incredible selection of images beginning in the early 1960s, spanning onward through the decades from Retro Photo Archive are available.  

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