Henry Diltz

Henry Stanford Diltz (born September 6, 1938, in Kansas City, Missouri), is a folk musician and photographer who has been active since the 1960s. He has two children (Zoe Diltz Pratt and Nicholas Harrison Diltz) with Elizabeth Joy Grand Diltz.

Among the bands Diltz played with were the Modern Folk Quartet. While a member of the Modern Folk Quartet, Diltz became interested in photography, met The Monkees, played on some of their recording sessions, and took numerous photographs of the band, many of which have been published. His work also attracted the eye of other musicians who needed publicity and album cover photos. He was the official photographer at Woodstock, and the Monterey and Miami Music Festivals, and has photographed over 200 record album covers.

Diltz photographed 1960s folk-rock stars who lived in Los Angeles's Laurel Canyon. During that time, Laurel Canyon was a center of American music. Many rising stars were drawn to Laurel Canyon, a laid back neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills. "There was a sense of brotherhood in all of this - in the music scene, in Laurel Canyon, certainly at Woodstock. But all the people I photographed: I love their music."

In 1971 he and songwriter Jimmy Webb nearly died in a glider aircraft accident. Webb was piloting and Diltz was taking motion picture film from the rear seat. Both suffered significant injuries. The film did not survive.

Diltz contributed all the photographs to the 1978 book, California Rock, California Sound, which archived the Los Angeles music scene of the 1970s. British writer, Anthony Fawcett, provided the bulk of the text. He also has a book titled, "California Dreaming", from Genesis Publications UK. Self published "Unpainted Faces" book of black and white photographs was released through Morrison Hotel Gallery.

Diltz is co-founder of the Morrison Hotel Gallery along with Peter Blachley and Rich Horowitz in SoHo, New York City and in West Hollywood. The galleries specialize in fine-art music photography, including his own works.

Diltz is still active, including a role as contributing photographer to The Henry Rollins Show. He was among the 43 photographers invited to donate a print to "FOCUS: an auction of the finest photography to benefit City Harvest...." The fund-raiser was on September 18, 2008 supported City Harvest, a food collection bank in New York City.

Diltz lives in California. The archive in his bungalow in North Hollywood, California holds some 800,000 photographs, alphabetized from "A" (for America) to "Z" (for Zappa).

External links

• Diltz's photography
• CALIFORNIA DREAMING: Memories & Visions of LA 1966-1975 The Photographs of Henry Diltz
• Henry Diltz at the Internet Movie Database