R.E.M. Athens Ga

Following 'Aim High', Tom Sheehan's collected portraits of Paul Weller from 1978-2015, 'In Between Days', The Cure In Photographs 1982-2005, and 'You Love Us', Manic Street Preachers In Photographs 1991-2001, this book, showcasing his work across 3 decades with alt-rock pioneers R.E.M, is the fourth in a series from the legendary music photographers immense archive, each focusing on his long relationship with a favourite subject. Tom Sheehan first met R.E.M. in 1984, being compelled initially both by their southern strangeness and unique alternative twist on '60s folk rock and jangle. "Our first encounter was all very swift as most of these encounters are," he remembers. "Punk had gone past and there was this whole rush of new American music. It was that thing that we love so much about people redefining what you think about music." Between the years of 1984 and 2005, Sheehan would capture a succession of iconic images of R.E.M. In singer Michael Stipe, himself a photographer, he found a subject utterly aware and alive inside the lens. "He understands an image," says Sheehan. "For me, it's about capturing a band at a point in time. I only play one instrument, the camera."
Tom Sheehan was born in Camberwell, South London, his vocation decided the day he first saw a picture of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates in a magazine at Loughborough Junction rail station on his way to a school football match. After working for CBS Records he turned freelance in 1978, becoming Chief Photographer at the Melody Maker where his work appeared for the next 2 decades during the height of its weekly circulation. In 2006, Sheehan received an Outstanding Contribution award from Record Of The Day, presented by Coldplay's Chris Martin, in recognition of his life's work in music photography.