Henry Diltz

Michael Jackson on the phone, 1971

1971

Music photographer Henry Diltz shot more than 250 album covers and thousands of publicity shots in the ‘60s and ‘70s, including the iconic Morrison Hotel cover for The Doors. 

Known for his fly-on-the-wall-style portraits, Diltz has shot other musical legends including the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Crosby Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, America, Steppenwolf, James Taylor, Jimi Hendrix, The Monkees and David Cassidy. He was the official photographer at the Woodstock festival in August 1969, and Diltz’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, LIFE, People, Rolling Stone, High Times and Billboard. 

A popular musician in the 1960s himself, Diltz’s career, taking some of the most iconic photographs of our era, just happened. After a globetrotting childhood, he attended colleges in Munich, West Point and Honolulu, where he became known as a musician and founding member of the Modern Folk Quartet. When Phil Spector produced one of the group’s last singles, this led to many friendships with emerging recording artists in the California rock communities of the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

Immersed in this world, Diltz discovered a passion for photography, which turned into an obsession and, later, an occupation. His gift did not go unnoticed by musician-friends, whom Diltz documented as he hung out in the scene. 

“I only wanted to remember exactly what I saw,” he says. “It was all about capturing images and moments, filling the frame with the essence of what I saw.” 

Diltz’s professional career began with the serendipitous sale of a single shot of Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Through a memorable six-year partnership with design legend Gary Burden, the list of album covers and artists he shot grew to read like a “Who’s Who” of rock ‘n’ roll history. Musicians liked him for the natural quality of his photos and because he was not part of the “establishment” press. His work graced magazines like Rolling Stone and included a LIFE cover of Paul and Linda McCartney in April 1971. 

Diltz’s photos are distinguished by a lyrical sense of composition that actor Harrison Ford once referred to as “Henry’s framing Jones.” There’s an intuitive, naturalistic luminosity that only available light — which he prefers — can deliver. Whether working with conventional film or digital images, he always finds the perfect balance of illumination, color and reportage. 

Diltz and his images are such fixtures in rock culture that he is often interviewed for books, articles and documentaries about the era and speaks regularly on college campuses. He continues to document the music scene from his base in Southern California today. 

“I am amazed at the accumulation of images that has resulted, simply by doing what I love to do, day after day after day,” says Diltz. “It’s a result of being with countless people over the years, waiting at the sidelines for the moment to happen. Photography has been my passport, and I have arrived in the present, where I have always been, camera in hand. There! That says it best for me!”

Find original Henry Diltz photography on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Rosenbaum Contemporary)