Famous photos of the Rolling Stones in the 1970s by Dominique Tarlé to be seen in Le Lavandou this summer

"The adventure of a lifetime." The Espace culturel du Lavandou is hosting the Rolling Stones 1971 exhibition: 44 photographs taken by Dominique Tarlé, who was present at the opening. Fifty years later, the photographer remembers it all. As if it were yesterday.

Introduced to photography by the father of a friend, Dominique Tarlé found his vocation and continued his studies in this field, always listening to the American rockers of the 1950s. He completed his studies in May 1968.

"What was happening on the streets of Paris terrified my parents. I had no trouble convincing them that I should leave France to go to London to improve my English," he recalls, his sly look behind his tinted glasses.

Barely having arrived in the English capital, he pushed open the doors of the pub downstairs from his apartment. Music was naturally playing. There, he met John Mayall, the father of British blues, who eventually introduced him to a certain Mick Taylor.

"A year later, he replaced Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones..." The first seed was planted.

With the Stones, across Europe to Villefranche

Some time after this meeting, by word of mouth, Dominique Tarlé found himself on the set of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus . There he met Jagger and his band, but also John Lennon, The Who and Eric Clapton. He then clicked his film during the 48 hours of filming. Prints that can be found today in Le Lavandou.

"I sold these photos to a French magazine, Best . They ran the cover with a large portfolio inside. I then gave copies to the Rolling Stones. They loved it. They were used to posed photos; this was a snapshot."

Dominique Tarlé was then adopted by the group. "From then on, every time they did something, they called me." On the walls of the Espace Culturel, there are prints of a concert in Hyde Park in front of 500,000 people (July 1969). "They told me: we'll build you a little tower on the side of the stage so you can photograph us on stage, facing the audience."

And when the Stones came to Paris, they reserved a dressing room for him and his family. He still took pictures from above the stage. He then spent the band's entire European tour sleeping at the foot of Buddy Guy's bed, who was playing as the opening act.

"The Rolling Stones really liked it, especially Keith Richards. In early 1971, they asked me to be their official photographer on their UK tour. On one condition: not to be too expensive."

Everything was going well, until a phone call from the British immigration services: "They told me: you've been living in England for three years on three-month tourist visas. It's not possible, you have to go back to France. It wasn't very fun for me to return to the country of Sheila and Claude François..."

During the last concert in England, Bianca - the future Mrs. Jagger - approached Dominique and whispered in her ear that the group was going to move to France for tax reasons.

The Londoners found refuge on the Côte d'Azur, particularly in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Dominique eventually joined them. "I arrived by bus at Keith Richards's house. I spent the day with him taking photos. In the evening, I thanked everyone and got ready to leave. And Keith said to me, 'Where are you going? Your room is ready.' I stayed for six months."

Small and big stories

From this period at the Nellcote villa, he provides snapshots of the daily lives and private lives of the most famous rockers on the planet. "I found it very interesting to discover who they were offstage."

We then discover Keith Richards with his son, with his wife. But also little stories that made the big one. "Gram Parsons, country singer, comes to join Richards in France. They spend their days playing and singing together. Gram wants to record his first album and wants Keith to produce it. This worries Mick, who is afraid that Keith will play on this album, sing, with the risk of losing him for a year or more."

In the photo illustrating this point, Jagger is seen sitting at a table next to his guitarist, looking worried, with only Gram Parsons' cigarette in front of him. To counter this, the Stones frontman then floated the idea of releasing a new album.

So the band set up shop in the basement of Richards's house, brought in their mobile recording studio, ran electricity from the railway line next to the villa, and spent weeks perfecting what would become the double album Exile on Main Street .

Since then, Dominique has carried out other projects with the group and has always remained in contact with the now "grandfathers of rock", whom he considers "old friends" .

See it at the cultural center, 612 Avenue de Provence in Le Lavandou. Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Free admission.