In Elaine Mayes’ “It Happened in Monterey” (Britannia Press) you can see Jerry Garcia, before the ‘touch of gray,’ Mickey Dolenz sans Davey Jones, David Crosby and Steven Stills before Nash and Young.

Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, the Mamas and the Papas and The Who are all featured in Mayes’ book of photographs from the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival. Beyond the star power, though, lies the artistry of Mayes’ photography. The book also features commentary from documentarian D.A. Pennebaker, Who guitarist Peter Townshend and journalists, historians and fans at the festival.

Working with simple camera setups – no flash, no lights – Mayes documented the festival from every angle she could, including atop a very gracious friend’s shoulders. The mix of stage and crowd shots offers a more personal look at the festival than just the artists playing their music.

The bulk of Mayes’ work is in black and white, the rest in Ektachrome – a color slide film that lends itself to a wide range of enhancements. The book is laid out in order of the three nights of music and those artists not on stage can be found in the crowd. Not only did Mayes catch artist’s off-guard, she does so in a new way – one example is Jerry Garcia, peeking out in the midst of a Saturday afternoon crowd.

Surrounded by the musical prowess at Monterey, Mayes is also careful to capture the time and spirit of the decade with her crowd shots. Headbands, flowers in hair and all the accoutrements of the hippie movement show in kind as Mayes focuses her lens on sitting couples, a policeman stringing his antenna with flowers and a poster vendor – all expressing their own aspects of the 60s.

Mayes will be at Amherst Books today at 5 p.m. to discuss the book and her experience shooting the festival.