He was just a 14-year-old ‘haole’ kid living in the hills of Honolulu with a Nikkormat camera, trying to find time between a newspaper route and school to shoot rock stars. Eric Clapton and Blind Faith had just flown over to Honolulu to play the H.I.C. Center’s Arena on August 24, 1969 and Richard had the opportunity to take photos of the band that night. If you wanted great shots of great musicians in Honolulu, then you hired ‘the kid.’

Richard eventually graduated to a Nikon F camera and as there wasn’t much competition in front of the stage, he was able to capture the legends in all their glory. Elvis, the Stones, Rod Stewart & Faces, James Taylor and Led Zeppelin all made Hawaii a part of their tour schedules in the 70s with Richard as a permanent fixture taking on the role of official photographer.

When he moved to the mainland at age 19, Richard was hired by Warner Brothers to shoot rock concerts in California and even followed Van Halen to a wintery St. Louis, Missouri. His photos were soon incorporated into album covers, posters, liner notes, billboards and magazine ads. Capturing rock at its pinnacle was a gift…when talent, location and luck aligned. Richard, as a kid, never realized that his photos would archive a time and space that brought the masters of rock to an immortal status.