SAN FRANCISCO, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Ethan Russell's photographic work is immortalized on some of rock 'n' roll's most iconic album covers, and in images of legendary music stars that are both timeless works of art and extraordinary artifacts from a specific and memorable era in pop culture history. Fellow photographic artist Annie Liebovitz has said, "Ethan Russell is the photographer I always wanted to be. He held onto his ideals. And in the world of entertainment, that is very hard to do."

That ethic comes through clearly in many world famous photographs including ones of the Beatles on a London rooftop, the Rolling Stones at Altamont and the Who surrounding the stark, solitary monolith from the cover of Who's Next.  Next month, Ethan Russell will premiere upwards of 90 never- before-exhibited images at the San Francisco Art Exchange in a new show entitled "BEING THERE 1967-2005." From Russell's archives, these previously unissued works are every bit as powerful and eye-opening as the now-familiar ones that have captured the imagination of so many for so long.

Many of the pieces have never even been previously seen, including intimate shots of John Lennon and Russell's latest work from the beginning of this year, photos of Audioslave for their current hit CD. Russell commented, "A lot of my work is very well known, but when you isolate an image from a session, there's so much that's left behind, and some of it is just wonderful. I want to have people see this material. And as I have just returned to shooting, seeing the new work take its place in what is now a pretty lengthy historical line, and to see it fit, is all very exciting to me."

The new images, both color and black and white, will be exhibited in varying sizes, some as large as 3 x 4 feet, and all will be available for sale in limited editions. In addition to Lennon and Audioslave, subjects include the Who, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Stephen Stills, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Santana, Rickie Lee Jones, Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, Yoko Ono, Bill Wyman and San Francisco's own Blue Cheer (from '67), who were managed by Russell's brother. Once again a San Francisco area resident after years in London, New York and Los Angeles, Russell has also chosen for this show previously unseen photos taken at his family's ranch in Carmel Valley, including one of Mick Jagger crossing a stream on horseback. The exhibition opens July 11, with an opening event slated for Saturday, July 16, and runs through the end of August.

Born in New York and raised in San Francisco, Russell first moved to London in '68 with the intent of becoming a writer-photography was at that point a hobby. Soon after, chance encounters-come-photo sessions with John Lennon and Mick Jagger almost instantly transformed Russell into one of the world's foremost rock photographers. All the images for the Beatles' Let It Be and his documentation of the Stones' Rock 'n Roll Circus were two of Russell's earliest projects. Russell went on to travel with the Stones on two tours, and Bill Wyman has commented, "Ethan has taken some of the greatest pictures in rock 'n roll, maybe the greatest ever."

Nominated for GRAMMYs multiple times for work that helped elevate album design to "art," Russell was also a pioneer in the advent of music video in the pre-MTV era. In the '70s, realizing that music was virtually unrepresented on television, Russell conceived musical narratives for the screen, beginning with efforts to bring a version of Quadrophenia to prime-time, and with films for Leon Redbone and Rickie Lee Jones. Since then, he's produced and directed videos for artists including Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Hank Williams, Jr. and John Lennon.

After over two decades in video, film and web design, Ethan Russell's return to still imagery launches an important new era in his career as this master photographer returns to his original medium. Marking it with BEING THERE 1967-2005 offers an opportunity to experience what's always set Russell's work apart-the sense that the person behind the lens was a participant in the moment, offering an insider's view far beyond that of just a keenly observant professional photographer.

Co-founded in 1983 by Theron Kabrich and James Hartley, SFAE is a leader in international fine art sales and publishing, with a global reputation as premiere purveyors of world-class pop culture imagery. SFAE has long represented the art of Alberto Vargas and Ronnie Wood, famed album cover artist Roger Dean, fantasy-genre master Boris Vallejo, and many noted rock/celebrity photographers including Terry O'Neill, Mick Rock, Jerrold Schatzberg, Joel Brodsky, Pattie Boyd and many others. Their gallery is at 458 Geary Street in downtown San Francisco. For more information, log on to www.sfae.com .