Ritchie Blackmore by Ross Halfin
by Rufus Publications (RSLE077)

Revealing photographs of revered guitarist


Ross Halfin first photographed Ritchie Blackmore in 1980. By 1983 the then Rainbow guitarist trusted him enough to let him drag me along as he shot the portraits herein taken by a Copenhagen railway track.

Most people believe Blackmore to be a moody bastard, but my experience suggests he’s actually a really funny bastard.

Halfin can be a rude bastard but Blackmore likes rude, so he allowed him to poke his camera where no photographer should. Hence these 300 pages.

There are fan-boy words – an introduction by Def Leppard’s Phil Collen, gushing praise by Billy Corgan, memories from late journalist Pete Makowski (alongside Blackmore on p111), ertswhile tour manager Colin Hart, and Halfin himself, but the pictures say so much more.

Many show Blackmore pretending to be moody, eating chips, wearing fishnet stockings, only his underpants, or cutting his toenails. Most, though, capture him vividly in his on-stage element: a man possessed, a showman unrivalled.

Neil Jeffries, Classic Rock UK - January 2022 issue


You can order this book at Rufus Publications