By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago LOS ANGELES - Deborah Chesher was culling through her old boxes of negatives one day when a random thought crossed the photographer s mind about how young and alive all of the guitar gods of her youth had been.

She has now brought those synaptic occurrences into focus in the coffee table book “Everybody I Shot Is Dead.” The 208-page volume, with photos ranging from black-and-white to color, celebrates the joyous, often unguarded, moments of some of rock music s biggest stars. “It s truly not about dead people as much as it is about how amazing these musicians were,” Chesher says as she sips a latte during a recent interview at a friend s art studio.

As much a fan as a photographer when she started, the native Canadian arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s with a 35-mm camera and a portfolio of touring rock acts she had photographed as they passed through Vancouver. She was soon working at all the local music haunts, shooting musicians for albums, concert posters and publicity photos. Little Feat s Lowell George is playfully making bunny ears behind record executive Mo Ostin s head as Ostin reviews a contract the two are about to sign.

Michael Bloomfield even takes his turn behind the camera, producing some blurry black-and-white images in an apparently misguided attempt at art photography. Others, such as George, who was 34 when he suffered a fatal heart attack, died young after years of hard living. Still others, like Bolan, who was 29, perished in car crashes or, in the case of former teen idol Rick Nelson, plane crashes.