From 1972 to 1982, America saw the rise of some of the greatest soul, funk, and R&B artists in music history. As black music styles grew in popularity, an explosion of the most glamorous and eccentric singers and musicians came onto the stage, think of Gil Scott-Heron, Donna Summers, and James Brown. Bruce W Talamon was just a kid in college studying political science, when on exchange in Berlin, he bought a camera, and became interested in the power of the image. After a lucky stint at the Wattstax music festival, Talamon found himself talking with the likes of Howard Bingham, another famous black photographer, who helped him get his work published in Soul magazine. Despite the growing celebrity of black musicians, there were few big time music magazines covering their stories, even fewer covering the slightly lesser known funk bands like the Dramatics, or War. Talamon dealt with being excluded from white spaces, and needing to compete twice as hard as his white counterparts, however he also found that his skin colour gave him an insider status to photograph into a niche music scene that was often ignored. Back in the 70’s there wasn’t such a thing as restricted access, and photographers weren’t limited by their publicist. This allowed the young photographer to really hang out with the artists, see them in their element, and capture real moments with them. Now these photos remain a stunning homage to a truly otherworldly time period. Talamon hopes to shed to light on the charisma of these icons for a younger generation to experience. His book Soul.R&B.Funk. Photographs 1972-1982 will be released later this year.