ArtistAmerican
Ed Finnell
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The Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood was one of the great arenas of 1970s rock, and Ed Finnell was there for almost all of it. Born in Los Angeles in 1956, he came to photography early - around age ten or eleven - and by the time he shot his first major concert in June 1972, The Rolling Stones at the Forum, the direction of his work was set. He was sixteen years old.
What followed was an unusually sustained engagement with a single subject. Through the remainder of the decade, Finnell photographed virtually every significant rock act that came through southern California: Led Zeppelin, The Who, David Bowie, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Wings, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Rod Stewart and The Faces. He shot with Nikon equipment and learned darkroom craft from a friend who gave him early access to a private lab. The technical challenge of concert photography - fast action, dramatic and constantly shifting stage lighting, no second chances - suited his instincts.
In the mid-1970s, a connection through the Pirate Sound Rehearsal Space in Hollywood opened professional doors. There Finnell encountered acts preparing for tours, began selling them prints, and was eventually hired as an official tour photographer. His photographs appeared in magazines, tour programs, and liner notes worldwide. Most durably, his images appeared on four Rolling Stones album covers - a record of commercial placement that few concert photographers of his generation can match.
David Bowie was, by Finnell's own account, his favourite subject. Bowie's theatrical productions were lit with a generosity toward photographers that most rock acts did not offer, and the results show it. The image of Bowie as The Thin White Duke at the Los Angeles Forum on February 9, 1976 - stripped down, severe, lit like a Weimar-era stage production - is among the most reproduced concert photographs of the period. The Ziggy Stardust-era shots from the Long Beach Arena in March 1973 are equally striking.
Over nearly five decades, Finnell estimates he accumulated close to 200,000 concert negatives. He has continued to print from these originals in an analog darkroom, producing gelatin silver prints and signed, numbered editions - typically limited to fifty - that represent the full archive's most refined output. In recent years he relocated from Los Angeles to Sweden, where he has connected with Stockholm's Oak Island Gallery. In February 2025, a body of previously unpublished Led Zeppelin photographs - including images from the 1975 Physical Graffiti tour and the 1977 Presence tour - was exhibited at the gallery, timed to coincide with the Stockholm premiere of a major Zeppelin documentary.
On the Swedish auction market, Finnell's prints have appeared at Stockholms Auktionsverk Sickla and Auctionet, accounting for all 11 items in the Auctionist database. Results range from around 2,000 to 6,100 SEK, with the top result for a signed Neil Young print from the 1976 Fall Tour at the LA Forum. Subjects spanning Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Rod Stewart, and David Bowie feature in the sold lots, reflecting both the breadth of his archive and the appetite for 1970s rock material among Scandinavian collectors.
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42 sold results
ED FINNELL. "Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti Tour'', Los Angeles, 25 Mars, 1975, signerad Ed Finnell, 12/50, analogt (darkroom made) silvergelatin fotografi, ilford multigrade v rc-papper.
SEK 1,288Sep 2026
ED FINNELL. Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin, "Physical Grafitti Tour", Los Angeles, 25 mars, 1975, signerad Ed Finnell, 36/50, analogt fotografi (darkroom made) silvergelatin, ilford multigrade v rc-papper.
SEK 900Sep 2026
ED FINNELL. Bob Dylan & The Band, "Blood on the Tracks Tour", Los Angeles, 14 februari 1974, signerad Ed Finnell, 14/50.
SEK 700Sep 2026
ED FINNELL. (USA/Sverige, född 1956): Sir Elton John, "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road Tour", Los Angeles, 6 oktober 1974, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 4/50.
SEK 2,435Sep 2026
ED FINNELL. "Keith Richards & Ronnie Wood, The Rolling Stones, Tour of The Americas", Los Angeles, 9 Juli 1975, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 11/50, analogt fotografi.
SEK 1,300Sep 2026
ED FINNELL. David Bowie, "Heroes Tour", Los Angeles Forum, 3 April 1978, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 1/50.
SEK 1,303Aug 2026
ED FINNELL. David Bowie, "Heroes Tour", Los Angeles Forum, 3 April 1978, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 8/50.
SEK 1,700Jul 2026
ED FINNELL. David Bowie som "The Thin White Duke", Los Angeles, 9 februari 1976, "Station to Station Tour'', signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 21/50.
SEK 2,102May 2026
ED FINNELL. David Bowie som "The Thin White Duke", Los Angeles, 9 februari 1976, "Station to Station Tour'', signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 14/50.
SEK 1,000May 2026
ED FINNELL. (USA/Sverige, född 1956): Elton John, "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road Tour", Los Angeles, 6 oktober 1974, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 4/50.
SEK 3,600May 2026
ED FINNELL. Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, "Presence Tour", Los Angeles, 21 Juni 1977, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 17/50.
SEK 1,636May 2026
ED FINNELL. David Bowie som "The Thin White Duke", Los Angeles, 9 februari 1976, "Station to Station Tour'', signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 13/50.
SEK 1,000May 2026
ED FINNELL. Rod Stewart,The Faces, "Ooh La La Tour", Hollywood, 18 Oktober 1973, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 7/50, analogt fotografi (darkroom made) silvergelatin.
SEK 1,100May 2026
ED FINNELL. Bob Dylan & The Band, "Blood on the Tracks Tour", Los Angeles, 14 februari 1974, signerad Ed Finnell, 22/50.
SEK 1,100Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. Rod Stewart & Ronnie Wood, The Faces Last Tour, Anaheim, California, August 30, 1975, numrerad 6/50, signerad.
SEK 1,550Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones, ''Tour of the Americas'', Los Angeles, 13 Juli 1975, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 19/50.
SEK 1,100Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. Sir Elton John, "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road Tour", Los Angeles, 6 oktober 1974, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 27/50.
SEK 1,964Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. David Bowie, "Heroes Tour", Los Angeles, 3 April 1978, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 35/50, analogt (darkroom made) silvergelatin fotografi, ilford multigrade v rc-papper.
SEK 2,600Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, "Presence Tour", Los Angeles, 21 Juni 1977, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 48/50, analogt handtryckt fotografi.
SEK 2,650Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, ''Tour of the Americas'', Los Angeles, 9 juli, 1975, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 48/50.
SEK 1,401Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. Svart/vitt foto, Keith Richards & Ronnie Wood, Rolling Stones, Los Angeles 7/9-1975, numrerad 1/50.
SEK 2,200Apr 2026
ED FINNELL. David Bowie "Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars", "Alladin Sane Tour", Long Beach Arena, 10 Mars 1973, darkroom made silver gelatin fotografi. Ilford Multigrade V RC papperhandtryckt fotografi, signerat och daterat 20/50.
SEK 2,200Dec 2025
ED FINNELL. Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, "Presence Tour", Los Angeles, 26 Juni 1977, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 24/50.
SEK 2,002Dec 2025
ED FINNELL. Rod Stewart,The Faces, "Ooh La La Tour", Hollywood, 18 Oktober 1973, signerad Ed Finnell, numrerad 6/50, analogt fotografi (darkroom made) silvergelatin.
SEK 2,600Dec 2025