The great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson famously used the phrase “the decisive moment” to describe the intuitive fraction of a second that separates a timeless photograph from the dozens of less inspired frames surrounding it. This instinct cannot be taught. It isn’t a skill photographer’s acquire as part of their craft. It’s a creative force that defines an individual style. And because Cartier-Bresson had the instinct to trigger his Leica’s rangefinder lens at so many memorable moments, he remains the 20th Century’s most remarkable photojournalist.
It takes no leap of the imagination to think of another Leica user, Jim Marshall, as the Cartier-Bresson of music photography—or more accurately, musician photography.
For nearly half-a-century Jim Marshall has captured his own rather remarkable share of “decisive moments.” Whether it was an informal portrait of John Coltrane, a boyish Bob Dylan kicking a tire down a New York street, Hendrix immolating his Strat at Monterey Pop, The Who greeting the sunrise at Woodstock, or Johnny Cash flipping a big F-you at San Quentin, Jim Marshall was there. And during the most extraordinary times yet for popular music, he somehow seemed to be everywhere—that mattered.
Timothy White
Timothy White is one of the most prolific and sought-after celebrity photographers in the country. For twenty years, he has captured the intimate, playful sides of legendary actors and actresses as well as the innocence of up and comers. He has photographed and continues to shoot some of the most recognizable movie posters of our time, the covers of countless high-profile publications, and imagery for an extraordinary roster of musicians.
Timothy White’s published works include: Timothy White; Portraits, published by Rizzoli with foreword by Harrison Ford; Indian Larry published by Merrell, with forewords by Matthew Barney, Paul Cox, and Billy Lane; Hollywood Pinups, published by Harper Collins, with forewords by Susan Sarandon, Christian Louboutin, and Chris Napolitano; and Match Prints with legendary photographer Jim Marshall published by Harper Collins for release in 2009.
Named one of the most important people in photography by American Photo, Timothy White is the recipient of several photography and film awards, including the 2004 International Photographer of the Year. Timothy White’s photographs are exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, White was born in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and currently resides in New York City.
Fall 2010 – Henry Diltz & Pattie Boyd
Henry Diltz
In the world of rock n’ roll photographers, there are none as extraordinary as Henry Diltz. A founding member of the Modern Folk Quartet, Diltz is as much at home as a musician on tour, as he is a visual historian of the last four decades of popular music. The rapport he’s developed with his musician friends, along with his down-to-earth-grin and frequent laugh, enables him to capture the candid shots that convey a rare feeling of trust and intimacy with his subjects
For Diltz, the pictures began with a $20 second-hand Japanese camera purchased on tour with the Modern Folk Quartet. When MFQ disbanded, he embarked on his photographic career with an album cover for The Lovin’ Spoonful. Despite his lack of formal training, Diltz easily submerged himself in the world of music: the road, the gigs, the humor, the social consciousness, the psychedelia, the up and down times.
For over 40 years, his work has graced hundreds of album covers and has been featured in books, magazines and newspapers. His unique artistic style has produced powerful photographic essays of Woodstock, The Monterey Pop Festival, The Doors, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jimi Hendrix and scores of other legendary artists. Diltz continues his distinguished career, generating new and vibrant photographs that inspire the rock n’ roll fan in each of us.
Pattie Boyd
Pattie Boyd was a successful Vogue model in the 60s and 70s. During that time, she met and married both George Harrison and Eric Clapton putting her in the enviable position of being able to take intimate photographs of some of the world's great musicians who came into their lives. This means that amongst her visual archive she has many unique Polaroid’s and vintage prints never seen before.
Pattie's passion for photography has developed since that time and through her membership of the Royal Photographic society she has studied the great master photographers of the past as well as printing techniques, enabling her to experiment with her images in new and exciting ways. She now explores many avenues in colour and black and white - landscapes, travel and flowers as well as celebrities and musicians.
Pattie has been awarded an L.R.P.S. for her work.
Spring 2011 - Neal Preston & Gered Mankowitz
Neal Preston
Although his versatility as a photographer extends to many genres, the following is clear: Neal Preston is one of the most prolific and highly respected photographers in the history of rock-and-roll.
With a career in photography that started in high school and continues to the present, Neal Preston has made a significant contribution to the pop-culture history of his generation.
For years, his photographs have appeared in every conceivable media outlet, on countless covers and pages of world-class magazines and newspapers, to books, television shows, feature films, Broadway show programs and billboards, vinyl, CD and DVD packages, literally everywhere.
With a body of work spanning almost 4 decades, Preston's photographs document many of the music industry’s most important moments. Preston was, and still is, is one of the lucky few allowed inside, behind the velvet rope, touring with superstars and capturing the entire experience on film.
He has worked closely with rock royalty such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Queen, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Madonna, and countless other luminaries.
Although Preston is best known in rock circles as Led Zeppelin’s U.S. tour photographer in the mid-1970’s, his rock-and-roll travels have also included touring Russia with Billy Joel, Europe and Japan with Bruce Springsteen, China with Wham! , South Africa with Whitney Houston, and South America with Queen. In 1985, Preston was chosen as one of the official photographers for the Bob Geldof’s “Live Aid” concert at London’s Wembley Stadium. In 1988 his association with Bruce Springsteen helped land him the job as official tour photographer for Amnesty International’s legendary “Conspiracy of Hope” tour, a 5 week world trek with Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Tracy Chapman appearing along with Springsteen his E-Street Band.
Preston’s photo archive easily contains one of the music industry’s single most extensive collections of photos shot by a single photographer; in fact, he was a key contributor to VH-1’s acclaimed “Behind the Music” documentary series, providing over one thousand still photos used in 50 episodes. Generally considered the top “live concert” photographer of his time, Preston has shot live performance CD and DVD covers for Springsteen, Madonna, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, and many others.
Gered Mankowitz
During 1963, Gered met and photographed the singing duo Chad and Jeremy, who had just signed with Ember records. One of these photos was used as the cover of the duo’s first album, “Yesterday’s Gone”, and Gered found himself working in the music industry at a time when it desperately needed new, mould breaking images. He began to work with a new generation of producers like John Barry, Shel Talmy and Chris Blackwell photographing artists who were his own age group and who felt at ease with him in a way that had not been possible with other photographers.
At the end of 1963 Gered opened his first studio, at 9 Masons Yard in the heart of London’s West End. On one side was the infamous disco “The Scotch of St.James” and on the other the art gallery “Indica”, partly financed by The Beatles and where John Lennon met Yoko Ono.
Within a few months Gered had already begun to make a name for himself, and he was approached to photograph Marianne Faithful, who had just had a big hit with “As Tears Go By”. Working closely with Marianne he got to know her manager and producer Andrew Loog Oldham. In early 1965, Oldham asked him to photograph the Rolling Stones, who he also managed and produced. This was a major turning point in Gered’s career, because from this first session came the cover for “Out of Our Heads” (U.S. title “December’s Children”), and as a result he was asked by the Stones to go to America with them on their record breaking 1965 tour. During this 9 week (48 city) tour of the U.S. Gered photographed the Stones on stage and off, and got particularly close to Keith and Charlie. There were many adventures as Gered found himself on the road with the greatest Rock band in the world at the peak of their original success. Gered continued working with the Stones as their ‘official’ photographer, producing photos for albums (“Between the Buttons”; “Got Live If You Want It”; “Big Hits”; and several others), press and publicity, taken at home, in the recording studio, on stage and behind the scenes until 1967, when the band broke off with their manager, Oldham.
Through the 60’s, Gered continued in the music world working with Oldham at his famous Immediate label, and with many major artists including Jimi Hendrix, Free, Traffic, The Yardbirds, The Small Faces, Soft Machine; and through the 70’s with Slade, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Elton John, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, ABC, Duran Duran and many others.
During this decade, Gered worked in other areas of photography, including advertising, book covers and a brief spell taking ‘stills’ on movies, including several months in Sardinia with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on the ill-fated movie “Boom”.
In 1982 Gered had a major exhibition of his work at London’s famous Photographers’ Gallery. This was seen by over 16,000 people, a record for the gallery at this time, and it then toured the U.K. for over 2 years. In 1984 a book based on this exhibition, called “Hit Parade”, was published in the U.K. and U.S.A. Also in 1984 a book of his Rolling Stones photographs, called “Satisfaction”, was published. Both books were very well received, and as a result there began the growing interest in the Gered Mankowitz archive.
