Frank Stefanko's coffee-table book.

["weapons of mass destruction-related program activities" <spamtony>]

Just got this book from Amazon: 

   http://www.amazon.com/Patti-Smith-American-Frank-Stefanko/dp/1933784067

("Patti Smith: American Artist" by Frank Stefanko.) 

Don't know if it's been discussed. It's pretty good 
for what it is. Lots of mid-70s b&w pictures of Patti 
in an apparently short-lived hairstyle (Very straight, 
and parted on the side), very short-lived style decisions 
(outfits beside stark black and white; dresses; feather 
boas; blouses tied halter-style showing midriff) and a 
very short-lived attitude - softer, more feminine and 
open - by an old friend of hers from the Philadelphia 
area. 

As for the band and performances - not so much of that. 
Although he does have live shots from the Bijou cafe 
(formerly at Broad and Lombard in Philadelphia) and
Penn's Landing 1977 (mislabled as 1979). (Here's an 
interesting factoid -- someone was there professionally 
filming. It was probably only 1 song for a local 
evening newscast or something, but wouldn't that 
be nice to have?) 

And there are a few full-blown portraits of individual 
band members. Nothing that would win awards in Paris, 
but nice, flattering photographs, all. 

The author/photographer seems to have gotten a few cracks 
at building Patti and the band's visual mystique, but 
apparently never got there (although his photographs
of Bruce Springsteen got to the covers of two
of his albums). There's a 1976 session here of both 
Patti alone, and with the band, done in hopes of getting 
the cover of "Radio Ethiopia", which ultimately went 
to someone else. Of his pre-"Horses" portraits, the 
only one likely to strike a lot of people as familiar 
or representative of those days is this one: 

   http://www.postmodern.com/~fi/pattipics/htm/keith.htm
 
Lots of it looks like a dress rehearsal for iconic
status, which in a way it was. So if you like your
Patti photos young, healthy and girly, this is a 
good book to pick up.