I t all started with that camera. Diltz bought it on a whim, while on tour with the Modern Folk Quartet, thinking would be a fun way to pass the hours on the tour bus as it criss-crossed the country. Entirely new to photography, Diltz initially hadn’t a clue what he was doing – he naively loaded the camera with reels of slide, not negative, film - but an innate creativity was unleashed.
He photographed everything; the scenery, dozens of fire hydrants, stars, motel toilets, his band mates. He photographed the band’s bass player in the desert, filling his bass case with explosives, setting it alight and haring off at top speed as it erupted in ball of smoke and flame. And once he was back home in Los Angeles California he sent the reels off to be developed. The nascent snapper was surprised to get a stack of slides back, instead of photographs.
So, he decided to gather ‘all my hippy friends together at someone’s house on the weekend and have a slideshow party. There's something about slides. When they hit the wall and then the next one comes up there's a little brief black period and then the next one is there - bang! So, when I saw my first slide hit the wall, eight feet wide, glowing in the dark and everyone going, “Wow!” I said to myself, “This is magic. This is freaking magic! I’m gonna do this some more!”’
He did some more. And then some more again. The slideshow parties became a regular occurrence, with friends gathering up and down Laurel Canyon to see themselves, captured by Henry’s lens, in various permutations and groupings. Fortuitously, these friends also happened to be the rising cream of mid-1960s’s LA rock aristocracy and their circle – which included nascent Byrds, Buffalo Springfields, Mamas and Papas, Monkees and assorted singer-songwriters. Many of them were at outset of their rise to global superstardom. And charting their halcyon days and decadent nights was their pal Henry, still a hobbyist with a camera and slide projector, but now also on his way - to being one of the most in-demand photographers in the music business.
'When I saw my first slide hit the wall, eight feet wide, glowing in the dark and everyone going, “Wow!” I said to myself, “this is magic. This is freaking magic! I’m gonna do this some more!”’
In a career that would go on to span over six decades, he would produce thousands of images; hundreds of album sleeves, portraits and publicity shots. He launched a gallery that would evolve into an elite photography agency. And he would be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Grammys, The Lucies, and the International Photography Hall of Fame, reflecting the enduring respect of generations of rock stars.
It was a photo taken of the Buffalo Springfield – the psychedelic country rock group that included Stephen Stills and Neil Young – that scored Diltz his first pay check for a photograph. Henry was hanging out with the group at Venice Beach one day in 1966, when he noticed a garish wall mural. Thinking its loud colours would work brilliantly as a slide, the group were asked to stand in front of the mural, simply for scale. Later, when the Springfield started getting press attention, they remembered Henry’s photographs. When Tiger Beat magazine asked the band for pictures, they passed on Henry’s details.
'I got a call from a lady at Tiger Beat magazine and she said, "We hear you’ve a picture of the Buffalo Springfield. We’d like to run it and can offer you $100’. I went, wow! I’d never made a nickel taking pictures, it hadn’t occurred to me to be a professional photographer. So that’s how it became a professional gig for me, how it went from being a hobby, a passion, to a career.'
More magazine and band commissions followed. As the 1960s soared to a climax at Woodstock (where he was the official photographer) before swooping into the mellow rock era of the early 1970s, Henry became the rock scene's photographer of choice. A new generation of artistes such as Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, David Crosby and others were tiring of the archetypal tweed-jacketed agency photographer, asking them to ‘do something zany’.
They wanted Diltz, a fellow ‘head’, a musician and hippy who occupied the same heightened states of consciousness they did, who produced cool publicity shots, inventive album sleeves, dynamic concert photos and off-the-cuff, informal portraits. It also helped that he was likeable, unobtrusive, and loved to hang out. If you were a turned-on, tuned-in musician in late 1960s LA, you needed a portrait or album cover by Henry Diltz.
‘I studied Psychology at college, and I think it’s is a great basis for being a photographer. You find something in your subjects...'
‘I am an observer,’ he says today. ‘I studied Psychology at college, and I think it’s is a great basis for being a photographer. You find something in your subjects. What I've noticed is that you tend to bring out an aspect of a personality.'
In preparing the selection of images for Sotheby's, presented in partnership with 12on12, Henry called up his 10 subjects to ask them to co-sign editions, adding a further dimension of exclusivity and appeal to the prints. The fact that each print sold benefits the Musicares charity was an added bonus.
‘With this co-signed series, we worked with some of my favourite musicians and dearest friends that I photographed, to sign the pictures with me,’ says Diltz. ‘It's a limited edition of 12 prints of each series. We've now gotten 10 artists to co-sign this exclusive collection with me.' Printed up in limited editions and hand-tinted, to accentuate their depth and narrative energy, at their core these photographs embody that innate Diltz vision.
Most of the personalities featured in the exhibition have been friends of Henry's for decades now. 'I think it proves how much they value you, that they jumped up and said, "Sure, let's do this together." Another main component to this series is that we're partnering with MusiCares, donating a percentage of profit to the charity. All the artists loved that. I mean Keith Richards right away said, "Oh yeah, that's great." I'm always so glad when my photos can help people!'
'In many of these photographs, I was working with a graphic artist, Gary Burden. When the band America first came to town, Gary and I were freelancers and one of our clients was the Geffen management company. They managed Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, The Eagles, and America. We would do all America’s album covers and publicity photos.
'When we did shoots with America, Gary and I would plan an adventure with the group to get them out of LA, away from their girlfriends, managers and phones. On this occasion, I had heard about this Indian reservation that had an oasis in the middle of it, so we rode horseback [On a horse with no name? – Ed] for two hours across the desert in Southern California, and then we came to this this beautiful date palm oasis. There was a pool of water, a little waterfall right in the middle of the desert and Gary had had the idea of bringing a mirror with us and laying it on the ground so the boys could lean over and look in the mirror, and I would take a picture, like it was a hole in the ground. Which, I thought, was kind of a silly idea. But nonetheless, we got that big mirror.
'We’ve tinted the clouds, to bring out the sunset, you know. Makes it much more dramatic. The idea of tinting these black and white photos is to make them one of a kind'
One of the boys in the group, Dewey, the guy with the hat on, could see bats flying around. We were down in a little valley with hills around us, and he said, ‘I'm going up there to look at the bats.’ Gary said, ‘Why don't you all go, and take that mirror with you?’ Once again, I thought, well, that's stupid. Anyway, they walked up there and I had a big telephoto lens, so I was tracking them as they were walking and I could see something bouncing in the mirror as they walked. It was the moon, coming up behind us. We couldn't see it, because we were down low and they were way up high but that was the moon bouncing from behind us.
I shouted, ‘Stand still a minute, you guys! Stand still!’ And they stopped, and I took that picture. Now, with this set of editions, we’ve tinted the clouds, to bring out the sunset, you know. Makes it much more dramatic. The idea of tinting these black and white photos is to make them one of a kind. These editions of 12 are really one of a kind.'
'This was taken probably in the late 1970s. I was driving through Hollywood in my little Volkswagen Beetle, with a friend when he suddenly said, ‘Hey, pull into that next motel on Sunset, I’ve some friends from New York staying there.’ So, we pulled in, knocked on the door, out came these guys – the band, Blondie. We were standing in the parking lot, and in the middle was a little grove of palm trees. I took some shots of the guys, and then Debbie came out. I'd never met her before, but she saw my camera and immediately just went like that [strikes pose]. You can see her motel key in her midriff there, the little orange plastic thing on the motel key. She just did that pose for me. I went click, click and then we took some group shots, talked for half an hour and then said goodbye.
'I learned to photograph being on the road with my group. I didn't go to photography school, I didn't learn lighting...'
Most of these photographs were taken that way. I learned to photograph being on the road with my group. I didn't go to photography school, I didn't learn lighting - I've never used backgrounds or lighting. I used God's light!' [laughs]
'Graham’s a dear friend. And Crosby, Stills and Nash were some of my very closest friends. I first met David Crosby and Stephen Stills when I was a musician, before I picked up a camera. Graham, I first met in 1966, the year I first had a camera. Stephen had a house up in Laurel Canyon where they would rehearse, hang out and swim in the pool. And I'd be up there all the time as well. I took this when I just saw Graham sitting there one day. Now I wouldn't have said, ‘Hey, Graham, come and sit here and look up in the air and I'll take your picture.’ We were probably talking, there were probably other people there and I just noticed him do that and just thought, that's a great shot because he looks very much like he's looking up at his future, you know.
I'd already done the cover for their first album, so I was very happy when they did their proper debut performance at Woodstock [in August 1969]. It was funny, I spent most of the three days up on the stage photographing, but occasionally I would go off beyond the crowd and wander around the camping grounds. So it was in the evening and I was out there and was just about to walk back to the stage when suddenly I heard [Woodstock’s MC] Chip Monck's voice boom, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’. And I thought, ‘Oh, shit, I'm at the back of a crowd of 500,000 people!’ I had to work my way all through the crowd. I mean, it took a song or two, but I got through pretty quickly!'
'He was new on the scene, but I knew he’d played The Troubadour [folk club in LA] a couple of times. Gary and I got a call from [manager] David Geffen who said, ‘Go to this guy’s house, he’s a young singer -songwriter, and take a picture for his debut album cover.’ They would leave it totally up to us. So we went to Jackson's house, knocked on the door - I remember this so well – he gave us a beer and sat us down in the living room and said, ‘Do you want to hear some music?’ He sat down at the piano, played a chord and started singing [‘Rock Me On The Water’] ‘Oh people, look around you…’ and I just got goose pimples! It was such a thrill. I hadn’t known before what he sounded like or what he was going to do, but when he played that one chord and this angelic, anthemic voice came out, he had me going in a second. What a thrill. He is absolutely one of my favourite songwriters.
So I said, let's go in the backyard as I needed some light. I started just taking portraits of him, while he was talking to Gary, got some head shots. There was a little tool shed and he was standing in the doorway. I took a few rolls of film, just while we talked. There was no real idea, no plan. Let the universe decide! And indeed, that happens anyway. So, when he saw the pictures, he picked this one out. I thought, well that's pretty close up, but okay.'
'Many, many - almost all - of these pictures started with a phone call. So, I’m in my kitchen one day at home in Laurel Canyon and the phone rings. It was [Taylor’s manager] Peter Asher. ‘Henry, could you come down to my house this afternoon? I've got this young singer, we're going to produce an album and we need publicity pictures.’
I had friends who lived nearby in Hollywood on a farm. Well, it was more like a commune really, with a couple of houses and barns. So we picked up James from Peter’s house and went there. It was kind of like being in the country.
'I have a real jones for framing you know, it's all about framing. I never crop afterwards.'
James didn't talk a lot - he was kind of quiet. He was leaning against a barn, and then there was a big post sticking up out of the ground, almost six feet high. And he's a tall guy. At one point, he just walked over and put his arms on it like that, and looked at me. I took a black and white picture - this one in this exhibition. I thought, boy, this looks so beautiful, because it’s framed so nicely. I have a real jones for framing you know, it's all about framing. I never crop afterwards. Then I thought to myself, I need a colour shot of this to show in my slideshows to my friends. I said, ‘James, would you just stand there a minute?’ And I got my colour camera and took a colour shot. When Peter Asher saw the colour shot, he gave it to the record company and they used that for the album cover. Although they cropped it. This is the full experience here, and I love the composition of his arms resting on the post. It has such a wonderful balance to it.'
'This is from about 1969 or 1970. I'd seen her play The Troubadour a number of times and I knew her in our circle of friends, she was always there, beautiful, serene, very smart. I was in awe of her.
Gary called me one day and said, ‘Hey, we gotta go to Joni's house and take some photos!’ Publicity photos, I think it was again. She lived in Laurel Canyon, on Lookout Mountain Avenue. I lived on the same avenue as her, but further up the hill, so I went by her house every day. So we went to her house and climbed the steps and turned the corner and there she was, waiting for us at the window. ‘Hi guys!’ We hadn't even gotten to the front door yet but she immediately started talking to Gary, they were really good friends. She spent five or 10 minutes talking to Gary who was very easy to talk to, a very gregarious guy. And while they chatted away, it gave me ten minutes to just quietly do my thing - and that's what happened here.
Once we went inside, we went up in the back and onto the hillside and I took pictures of her playing her dulcimer, and one thing and another. But the most beautiful shots were the ones I immediately took as we first got to the house and she said hello.
'I feel there was definitely some energy in Los Angeles at that particular time. You were surrounded by people like Joni, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne - all these people just seemed to gravitate to each other and feed off each other and got inspired by each other'
Very often, when you do a photo shoot, it's one of the last shots that gets you. It gets better and better and better and then finally - bang, you’ve got it. In this case, it was just the opposite. It was the very first shot.
For this edition, to have it signed, I went back to Joni's house recently. We carried the prints up to her house and spent an hour with her, while she signed them and had a great talk. How's she doing? [Mitchell suffered an aneurysm in 2015] She's better. She's back out on stage now. What a great mind. What a wonderful lady. There's a reason that these people are so well known and so well loved - they are exceptional people. Great minds, great talents. I feel there was definitely some energy in Los Angeles at that particular time. You were surrounded by people like Joni, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne - all these people just seemed to gravitate to each other and feed off each other and got inspired by each other.'
'Here's Keith, on his way from a plane to a limo. It’s 1979 and he's on tour with The New Barbarians with Ronnie Wood, which he enjoyed. He didn't have to be a Stone, he could just rock out with Ronnie. It was like the Rolling Stones without the boss!
I think this was taken at St. Louis. We’d flown to the main airport and taxied to the other side of the terminal, where eight limos came out and surrounded the plane. Everybody's coming down the plane stairs and the tour manager, a friend of mine, Richard Fernandez, was standing at the bottom of the steps said, okay Woody, you're in the limo over there. And then Keith came down the steps and Richard pointed over to the same limo and then he said, Henry, you get in that one too. So I walked over with Keith and he stood right by the door, and put his finger up like this. And you see he's holding the Jack Daniel’s bottle and he's got his New Barbarians pass on there, right next to the bottle. And he's got his little medicine bag.
'Photographers can be pushy, you know, all. I didn't do that, I knew how to hang out and not be a nuisance, so they accepted me pretty quickly...'
They were like a little band of Cockney guys, you know. Oi, oi, oi! They had a great big plane, with couches and a bar. I spent two or three weeks touring with them and I got to know them real well. Once again, it’s because I'm not asking them anything, right? I'm just watching, I'm not being a pain in the ass. Photographers can be pushy, you know, all, ‘Hey, guys, stand over here!’ I didn't do that, I knew how to hang out and not be a nuisance, so they accepted me pretty quickly. I’d even be there when they’d go to the bathroom before the show to fix their ‘barnets’. Barnet fair - you know - hair! They’d bend over and squeeze lemon juice on their hair and let it dry so it was stiff and sticking up! It was just a party. They had fun on that tour. ' [Further anecdotes redacted due to extreme rock’n’roll content].
'Ringo was always very stylish. This guy always knew how to dress. This was taken on stage at a soundcheck, before a gig in the early 1990s. It all started with a phone call – yes, same thing again! A friend of mine was at his rehearsals and he said Henry, I'm down here at Studio Instrument Rentals in Hollywood with Ringo. He’s down here rehearsing with his new All Star Band, and they’ve decided they wanted to do a tour book. They need someone to take photos of them while they're rehearsing. Do you have time to do it? Yeah! I grabbed my cameras and went right down and met Ringo. I said, ‘Ringo, do you mind if I get up on the stage while you're rehearsing as I need to get a good portrait of each person playing?’ And he said [lugubrious Ringo voice] ‘Look, I'm the drummer, you're the photographer. It's as simple as that’. [laughs] And that gave me to go ahead to do anything.
‘Usually when you do a photo session, it's their photo session – they have lights, a backdrop, clothing and makeup people. With Henry – it’s just him and his camera! It’s our photo session!’
Over the years, when he'd assemble a new All Star Band and go out on tour, he’d always call me to come and take group shots. Once, I was up in Vancouver, to take the group shot and they were rehearsing in a little club. On this occasion, Ringo’s son Zak was on drums. I'm standing alone in front of the stage on the dance floor, and suddenly Ringo jumps down, to hear what the sound is like. Just then, Zak plays an amazing drum fill. I said, ‘Man, Ringo, where did you find that drummer?’ He just said, ‘In me loins’. Ringo's the king of the one liner, isn't he?
I’ve always loved working with him. We interviewed him once for a video we were going to put out, and he said, ‘Usually when you do a photo session, it's their photo session – they have lights, a backdrop, clothing and makeup people. With Henry – it’s just him and his camera! It’s our photo session!’ And he loved that.'
'What I love about Slash is that like he's the archetypal American rock and roll star. His father Tony Hudson was an English graphic artist, who I’d met in the 1960s or 1970s. One day Gary Burden and I went to see Tony and his wife Ola and we sat around the kitchen table and out came his little nine-year-old son, who's now Slash. His father told him, ‘Go bring those dinosaur drawings to show the guys!’ Slash was really great at drawing dinosaurs, as a little boy. And that's where I first met him! He was nine or 10, something like that.
Now, about a year ago, I was at Glastonbury and that's where this picture was taken. You know, I can't claim to be a Guns’n’Roses fan or a metal fan. I like harmony. I sang in choirs in college and high school I sang in the church, I sang The Messiah several times. I like classical music. I love world music, Indian music, Greek music, belly dance music - but heavy metal, I’m not a fan. But when they arrived on the scene, I think in 1986, 1987, with their debut album, it was a movement. And Slash really has got the staying power and energy.
'Slash was really great at drawing dinosaurs, as a little boy. And that's where I first met him!'
Anyway, at that time in Glastonbury last year, I went backstage and talked to him and I said, ‘I remember you drawing those dinosaurs.’ [laughs] He kind of laughed but we didn't really have a conversation about it.'
'This was in LA in 1970, when they [Crosby, Stills and Nash] were all rehearsing up at Stephen's house in Laurel Canyon. I remember just seeing him, sitting there playing his guitar and I got my camera and walked out there and took a picture. And once again, I didn't say, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea for a photo. Sit in this chair and play your guitar.’ I never do that, you know? To this day, if anybody wants me to take their picture, my method is still, ‘Okay, I'll come over to your house, and we'll see what's in your backyard, what’s the light like in your living room?’
'Back in the day it was hangout time. Everybody hung out, it was just much more organic, much more friendly. Now it's not the same homegrown, friendly thing it was.'
But it’s not the same today. Back in the day it was hangout time. Everybody hung out, it was just much more organic, much more friendly. Now it's not the same homegrown, friendly thing it was.
And Stephen is my oldest friend in the music business. I first met him in 1963, when we were both playing at the Village Gate in New York City, a little folk club. You would play a set and they'd pass the basket, and you could make 10, 20, 30 bucks. And he would come down to the club because he liked our harmonies and we got to be friends. Years later, I spent four months in Europe with him, then two months living with him in his house in Surrey, England. Oh my God, that was an amazing time. I mean, life is chapters, you know? There was the Laurel Canyon chapter but that's all changed.
There's still Laurel Canyon, and there's still musicians living up there and I assume some of them hang out together, but it's not the same. it couldn't be the same, could it? But everything moves on and the whole industry changes. And in fact, looking at these photos is almost like looking at a bygone period now.'
Henry Diltz's Limited Edition Co-Signed Collection is available exclusively at 12on12 A selling exhibition 'Legends Through The Lens: The Golden Era of Rock'n'Roll' is on view at Sotheby's in London between 11 - 17 July 2024
