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Karl Ferris | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hastings, Sussex, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Psychedelic photography |
Karl Ferris (born 1948) [1] is an English music photographer/designer. [2] He worked on album covers for Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix. [3]
Karl Ferris was born and grew up in 1948 [4] in Hastings, England. [5] He studied at Hastings College of Art, and focused on Pre-Raphaelite painting. This inspired his psychedelic photography style. [6]
After school, Ferris signed up as a steward on a P&O liner that went to Australia via India.
Once Ferris to England, he served two years with the Royal Air Force (RAF) for his National Service as an aerial photographer. [7] During this period he became friends with a fellow conscriptee who was a member of a Liverpool based "Mersey Beat" group, and he was introduced for the first time to this genre of music.
Ferris was invited back to Liverpool to see a new group—the Beatles—who were appearing at the Cavern Club and was introduced to them there. From that point, he was hooked on Beat music from which The Beatles took their name.
After his military service, Ferris emigrated to Vancouver, Canada working as an assistant to master photographer Harry Nygard. From Nygard, Karl learned the skills of composition, form and texture. He also involved himself in the "Beatnik" lifestyle and began hanging out in coffee bars, listening to poetry readings and the progressive jazz of artists such as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy and Ornette Coleman. He photographed his first music subjects at these gatherings for local newspapers and magazines.
Ferris also began to take fashion shots of girlfriends and models, building up a respectable portfolio. Nygard told him that he had a real talent in this area, but to further expand his portfolio, he should return to London where the "Mod" fashion scene was creating new opportunities in the world of arts, music and fashion.
In 1964 Karl returned to England and the "Happening" Beat scene. Ferris did commission work as a fashion and cover photographer for teen magazines 19, Honey, Petticoat, She and later for Vogue , Harper's Bazaar , Burda, French Mode and Marie Claire . These commissions brought him to such locations as Paris, Cannes, Munich, Ibiza and Morocco. When he wasn't working, Ferris would join the "Scene", and after meeting (and eventually dating) Denmark's top Superstar model of the time, Maude Bertelsen, Karl was introduced to a Pop group called The King Bees. King Bees invited Ferris to sing cover versions of Rolling Stones songs with them, and so he began touring in and around Copenhagen with the group.
He eventually returned to England for a "fashion shoot" offer with Vogue.
In 1966, The Beatles had just released Rubber Soul and Karl had the chance to meet up with their official photographer, Robert Freeman, who encouraged Ferris to experiment with different styles of images – which he promptly did – and created his unique psychedelic style. [8] That summer on a trip to the island of Ibiza he discovered and began shooting the innovative psychedelic fashion work of designers Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger [8] —aka The Fool—and these photos were eventually printed in the fashion section of The Sunday Times . This was the first time such psychedelic photography and fashions had been seen anywhere.
He and The Fool were then invited to come to London to shoot some more "Psychedelic" fashion features for other magazines, working from a shared studio in a former private dance theatre. In this studio, they created "Art Happenings" with self-played psychedelic music with Fashion shows, Freeform Dancing and Action painting, with Liquid Light and Photo slide projections superimposed on the performers by Karl Ferris. These Event parties became the talk of the Music and Art scene at the time and famous current Pop Stars and Artists would drop by and join in the action, "Drop In and Drop Out" was the slogan used for the events.
Even the Beatles heard about the "Happenings" and came by and joined in, same with Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, T Rex, Mick Jagger, Grahman Nash, Graham Bond and artists Nigel Weymouth, Hapshas and the Coloured Coat, Peter Max and David Hockney.
In 1967, Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger with their colleges Josje Leger and Barry Finch "The Fool" were commissioned by The Beatles to paint their – "Apple Boutique" mural covering the entire building outside and in. They also created a Psychedelic Fashion line that was to be sold inside the store, and Karl was there to photograph it all.
Karl Ferris was invited to do a stage "Liquid light show" for Pink Floyd, which is believed to be one of the first ever done in England. [9]
Ferris was introduced to singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix in 1967 through musician/producer Chas Chandler, who had "discovered" Hendrix. [8] Hendrix disliked the UK cover of Are You Experienced , so arrangements were made for a photo shoot with Ferris. [10] Hendrix wanted "something psychedelic". During a meeting with the band, Ferris told Hendrix that he wanted to hear more of their music from which to draw inspiration. They accommodated his request by allowing him to attend several sessions for their second album, Axis: Bold as Love . [11] Ferris brought home tapes from the sessions, which along with Are You Experienced he listened to intently. [11] His first impression of the music was that it was "so far out that it seemed to come from outer space", which inspired him to develop a backstory about a "group travelling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth." [11] With this concept in mind, he took color photographs of the band at Kew Gardens in London, using a fisheye lens which was then popular in Mod sub-culture. [12] Ferris used what Egan described as "an infrared technique of his own invention which combined color reversal with heat signature", further enhancing the exotic nature of the image. [12] Ferris was an experienced fashion photographer, and his interest in the finer details of his covers led him to choose the band's wardrobe. After seeing Hendrix with his hair combed away from the scalp, Ferris requested that he wear it that way during the photo shoot. Hendrix's girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, trimmed his hair to improve its symmetry, forming an afro that became the basis of a homogenized Experience image. [12] Redding and Mitchell liked Hendrix's new hairstyle, so Ferris hired a hairdresser to style their hair in a similar fashion. After purchasing clothing for Redding and Mitchell at the boutiques on King's Road—Hendrix wore clothes from his wardrobe, including a psychedelic jacket with a pair of eyes printed on the front which had been given to him by a fan—the Experience travelled to Kew Gardens. In an effort to focus on Hendrix's hands, Ferris shot the band at a low angle. [12] The daylight faded soon after their arrival at the garden, so they returned the following day for a second shoot, which was not needed; the image selected for the US cover of Are You Experienced was the first shot taken the previous day. [13] Ferris chose the cover's yellow background and its surreal lettering, and he intended for a textured gatefold jacket that Reprise, as a cost-saving measure, did not approve. [14] [lower-alpha 1]
His images then appeared on all three US "Experience" album covers released during Hendrix's short life – "Are You Experienced?", "Axis Bold As Love", "Electric Ladyland" and the Japanese "Smash Hits"...In the year 2000, Karl's Hampstead Studio 1968 shot of "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" was used as the Cover of the multi disc, purple velvet "Rolls Royce" box set. Ferris went on to create the album cover images for Donovan's "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden" ("Wear Your Love Like Heaven"/"For Little Ones") and the "Hurdy Gurdy Donovan" EP and (again, partnering with The Fool) for The Hollies' Evolution . He was also instrumental in creating their overall looks for the shoots, which then became their recognized public images. During the years 1967–69, Ferris was one of the preferred photographers to the British rock elite, shooting also many publicity photos for them. He was called "The Icon with the Nikon" by the musicians and Press back then. In 1968, Ferris accompanied Donovan on his US tour and was commissioned by Look to shoot a feature article on Donovan, after which he was retained as a 'Stringer' in Europe to shoot images for music articles there. In 1969, Karl's Donovan psychedelic shots were featured in an article in Twen, the famous German art magazine. [15]
Ferris left London with his pregnant wife Anke in 1970 and went to live in Ibiza to bring up their son Lorien. Joni Mitchell visited Ferris in Ibiza in 1970 on the recommendation of Graham Nash and was photographed by Ferris. Ferris continued shooting fashion and glamour photographs for magazines in Europe and the USA. In 1980, Ferris received a commission from Playboy Magazine to photograph "Welcome Back Kotter" star Melonie Haller (John Travolta's love interest and the only female "Sweathog") for a "Celebrity Pictorial" in the famous Bo Derek issue.[ citation needed ]
Ferris' work is included in the National Portrait Gallery, London. [16]
Electric Ladyland is the third and final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in October 1968. A double album, it was the only record from the Experience with production solely credited to Hendrix. The band's most commercially successful release and its only number one album, it was released by Reprise Records in the United States on October 16, 1968, and by Track Records in the UK nine days later. By mid-November, it had reached number 1 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, spending two weeks there. In the UK it peaked at number 6, where it spent 12 weeks on the British charts.
Are You Experienced is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in May 1967. The album was an immediate critical and commercial success, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. It features Jimi Hendrix's innovative approach to songwriting and electric guitar playing, which soon established a new direction in psychedelic and rock music as a whole.
The Fool were a Dutch design collective and band in the psychedelic style of art in British popular music in the late 1960s. They worked closely with The Beatles in London, painting George Harrison's Mini car, John Lennon's piano and a three story high psychedelic mural on the outside of the Apple Boutique on Baker Street. The group was named in reference to the Fool tarot card.
Axis: Bold as Love is the second studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was first released by Track Records in the United Kingdom on December 1, 1967, only seven months after the release of the group's highly successful debut album, Are You Experienced. In the United States, Reprise Records delayed the release until the following month. The album reached the top ten in the album charts in both countries.
A Gift From a Flower to a Garden is the fifth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan, released in December 1967 through Pye Records in the UK and Epic Records in the US. It marks the first double-disc album of Donovan's career and one of the first box sets in pop music. In the US, Epic also released the two discs separately as the stand-alone albums Wear Your Love Like Heaven and For Little Ones.
"Fire" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in early 1967. It has been described as "an exercise in soul, psychedelic rock, and polyrhythmic jazz-inspired drumming" by AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald. The song was remixed in stereo for the American release of the album. In 1969, it was released as a stereo single in the UK with the title "Let Me Light Your Fire".
Evolution is the first of two albums released in 1967 by British pop rock band the Hollies. It is their sixth UK album and peaked at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart.
Gered W. Mankowitz is an English photographer who focused his career in the music industry. He has worked with a range of artists from the Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix, and in other divisions of the photography industry, including fashion, music, advertising, news, and private photography. He works from his own gallery in North London.
David Redfern was an English photographer specialising in music photography. He worked as a photographer for 45 years and had over 10,000 pictures in his collection including photos of the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. In 1999 he published a book about his life called The Unclosed Eye.
Ed Caraeff is an American photographer, illustrator and graphic designer who has worked largely in the music industry.
Chris Walter was a photographer of classic rock and pop musicians, who began working in London in the early 1960s, photographing mainly rock musicians.
Ken Marcus is a famous American photographer, best known for his work in glamour and erotic photography with Penthouse and Playboy magazines and for his own website. For over 40 years he has produced hundreds of centerfolds, editorials, album covers, and advertisements. For many years, Marcus has lectured and conducted professional workshops in the US and internationally.
James Joseph Marshall was an American photographer and photojournalist who photographed musicians of the 1960s and 1970s. Earning the trust of his subjects, he had extended access to them both on and off-stage. Marshall was the official photographer for the Beatles' final concert in San Francisco's Candlestick Park, and he was head photographer at Woodstock.
Chuck Boyd (1942–1991) was a professional rock and roll photographer based in Los Angeles, California. Boyd took over 30,000 photographs of rock and roll performers from the 1960s and 1970s. After he died in 1991, his photographs were lost for nearly twenty years. Between 1964 and 1979, Boyd photographed artists and musicians including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and The Who. After their discovery, the images were being made available for the public in 2010.
Ethan Allen Russell is an American photographer, author and video director, mostly of musicians. He is known as "the only rock photographer to have shot album covers for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who."
Ron Raffaelli was an American photographer known for his documenting rock music icons in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Jimi Hendrix, for whom Raffaelli acted as official photographer in 1968. Raffaelli is known also for his fine art and erotic photography. His work has appeared in hundreds of magazine layouts, 50 album covers, over 40 posters, in six books and in public exhibitions.
Alain Dister was a French journalist, writer and photographer. He wrote numerous works on the subjects of Rock music, the 1960s, and the Beat literary movement in the United States.
Bruce Fleming, is a British fine art photographer who is notable for his pop art portraits of the 1960s and 1970s. He is perhaps best known for his photography of the Hollies, Lulu, the Animals and of Jimi Hendrix for whom he produced the photo for the Jimi Hendrix Experience's album cover Are You Experienced in 1967.
Edward Lee Thrasher Jr., known as Ed Thrasher, was an American art director and photographer. He was the recipient of a number of Grammy Award nominations for his work on album covers and won a Grammy for Best Album Package in 1974 for the Mason Proffit cover Come & Gone. He worked with various recording artists.
Herbert "Herbie" Wheeler Worthington lll, was an influential rock and roll photographer until his death at 69, in 2013. There was no HWW "Senior", or HWW "Junior". Herbie added the III himself. He was best known as the photographer for Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. It was his photograph that was run on the cover of the Fleetwood Mac Rumours album and was instrumental in creating the iconic imagery that is still associated with Fleetwood Mac today. He photographed over 40 covers for several bands and artists, including Buddy Miles, Paris, Jesse Cutler 20/20 and Lita Ford, among many others, in his 30+ years as a rock music photographer.
