Rock Paper Photo gallery finds perfect match in Hard Rock Hotel

A picture is worth a thousand words. A new gallery at the Hard Rock Hotel proves it can also be worth a thousand dollars.

Rock Paper Photo is a collection of fine art photography that started in 2010 as an online effort. The new Hard Rock gallery, which consists of mostly musical artists with some nods to pop culture, marks its first brick-and-mortar location.

Photos start at $135 with prices soaring to $16,000.

With pictures of Eric Clapton in his doting mother’s dining room, Tupac giving the double bird salute, and Iggy Pop blowing out candles with David Bowie looking on, the images are indeed extraordinary. But for music lovers, a lot of the time it’s about a historical moment.

A photo of Jimmy Page playing acoustic guitar at Led Zeppelin’s last American concert resonates with die-hard fans, who know that tour was cut short when Robert Plant’s son died. Whitney Houston, healthy and bright-eyed, holding her first Grammy in 1986 holds a special and bittersweet place with her fans.

It’s not strictly about the history, though. Sometimes it just comes down to the image.

There’s something charming about Madonna palling around with inner city kids, something beautiful about an Afro’d Aretha Franklin, something cool about Bob Marley’s octopuslike dreadlocks swinging in front of his microphone.

There are also the one-hit wonders, as CEO Mark Halpern refers to them.

“It’s about being in the right place at the right time,” he says. “We had one gentleman who wasn’t a professional photographer take a picture of Jimi Hendrix at a urinal.”

Intimate moments usually sell well, although they don’t usually get that intimate. Also highly desirable — pre-stardom photos.

Rock Paper won’t represent photos from the Rolling Stones’ most recent tour — nothing new can come from it — but they jump on shots from Mick Jagger’s youth. Anything never-seen-before immediately gains value. Case in point, shots the company got from Lady Gaga’s boyfriend from before she was Lady Gaga.

“They’re from the early 2000s,” Halpern says. “They’re personal moments of Stephanie.”

Most of the collection consists of older photos, legendary musicians. The reason is twofold. The longer an artist has been around, the more respect he or she has garnered with fans. And, in 2013, when everyone has a camera phone, everyone is a photographer.

Rock Paper has become more stringent with its acceptance of modern photos for that reason.

The gallery represents more than 300 photographers, many of them just as well-known in their field as the artists they’re capturing. Sometimes the photographer sets the rate for an image, other times it’s a compromise.

These are the photographers’ best images from, oftentimes, their lives’ work. They tend to get emotionally attached at times. That could explain some of the higher prices, but the real “sweet spot,” according to Halpern, is the $500-$1,500 range.

Although most of the collection consists of musicians, some of the older photos feature actresses such as Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. And, Rock Paper would like to delve into fashion to make for more of a focus on pop culture. To that end, it has partnered with fashion photographer Nigel Barker of “Top Model” fame.

For now, tourists are meandering their way into the gallery and reminiscing over the images before them.

So buyers can envision how an image might look when they take it home to Iowa with them, Rock Paper has staged a living room in the gallery. There are also iPads available to browse through the more than 10,000 images in the collection.

The Hard Rock was the perfect spot for Rock Paper, says Halpern. “People at the Hard Rock are into music memorabilia. It’s everywhere,” he says. “It’s just a great fit. Our brand and their brand are passionate about music.”

Rock Paper Photo is located at the Hard Rock Hotel, 702-483-4777.

Contact Xazmin Garza at xgarza@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0477. Follow her on Twitter @startswithanx.