Richard Bellia, Un Oeil sur la Musique, Norman Rae Gallery, Langwith College, University of York, until May 20

“Because I like music and I like music more than photography! Far more!” he enthuses, as he surveys his retrospective exhibition, Un Oeil sur la Musique, in the Norman Rea Gallery at Langwith College, University of York.

On show until May 20 are his off-stage portraits of Siouxsie Sioux, Ian Dury, Joe Strummer, Nirvana and John Peel and concert imagery of David Bowie, Annie Lennox and plenty more.

Everything is in black and white. “I make colour and I make black-and-white photography but since I’m independent, black and white is cheaper,” he says, initially giving a disappointingly pragmatic explanation of his choice.

Then comes the artistic reason: “Black and white carries the emotion and energy better than anything else. I don’t know why that is, but everyone says so.

“With black and white you can choose your grain, your density; you can be very creative with it with a whole range of developers and papers, and that’s all part of the creative process.

“Black and white, you can choose so many things and that becomes part of your style, your originality. You can have a style more easily than in colour, Polaroid or digital photography. You can have your own language. In colour you’re not so free; Polaroid, you’re not free at all; digital, you’re not free at all. This is why black and white is best – and it’s cool. Much cooler than the rest!”

Richard has captured rock stars off stage and on since the 1980s, publishing two books, Sex And Rock And Roll and Un Oeil sur la Musique (An Eye On The Music). His is often a wry and satirical eye, drawn to the minor absurdities of the rock world, such as the misspelling of Joy Divison on Peter Hook’s bass guitar case at a gig.

“This is something I do quite a lot, besides making portraits or doing live shows, where I might see something that looks funny or memorable. It could be just a few letters or words, which becomes increasingly meaningful, and I love that,” says.

He savours rock’s absurdities, but excesses? No. You will note he does not include “Drugs” in his Sex And Rock And Roll book title. “Most of all, that title was already there with the Ian Dury song, but it’s also that sex and rock and roll are photogenic; drugs are not. You’re not going to say to someone on drugs, ‘hey, I’m a photographer, let me photograph you’!” he says.

Richard is exhibiting in York at the invitation of fellow Frenchman Samia Calbayrac, director of the Norman Rea Gallery and curator of this show. “She contacted me in March 2009 to say she was planning to come to York University and part of her role here would be to put on exhibitions; if it happened, would I bring my photos over?”

The resulting exhibition is testament to both Richard Bellia’s passion for his subject and his determination to photograph it his way, be it with a camera more often used for fashion shoots or one with two mirrors – in the style of a periscope – that allows him to hold it above his head, arm fully outstretched, for the perfect view of the stage.

“There are no rules, only that as a photographer, if you have access to the stage, you’re happy, and if they take you backstage, you’re happier, because the real essence of the character is captured backstage, like Joe Strummer with his guitar at the Town and Country Club or John Peel, with just the initials JP on his festival pass at Reading, blinking in the sun.”

A photograph of a performer on stage freezes a moment, the moment chosen by the photographer, but how does Richard make that choice? “This is my genius, of course,” he says, laughing all the while. “No, this is your job as a photographer. You decide…but…you have to make a list of the things you have control of and the things you don’t: like where you’re standing; when are they going to let you film. But you can choose the technical aspects, and I believe it’s a balance of what I wish I could do and what they’ll let me do.”

In honour of that perennially shifting balance, he calls his publishing company site troischansonssansflassh@gmail.com, because concert photographers are traditionally restricted to the first three songs and no flash.

Richard cannot always call the shots off-stage, either. “The Serge Gainsbourg photo was on a television set; it was Gainsbourg on the television show and me alongside, shooting film,” he recalls. “And it was Gainsbourg at the end of his life, when he hadn’t made a decent record for a quarter of a century and was drinking from 10.30 in the morning. I hope the photo is good because the legend has diminished and he’s just an old drunk man talking on TV.”

It is indeed a marvellous photo: Gainsbourg, iconic to the last but frayed at the edges.

Richard Bellia, Un Oeil sur la Musique, Norman Rae Gallery, Langwith College, University of York, until May 20; open weekdays, 9am to 6pm. Entrance is free.