Michael Putland

Michael Putland took his first pictures at the age of nine and left school at sixteen to work as an assistant to various photographers including Time-Life photographer, Walter Curtain and the legendary motor racing photographer, Louis Klemantaski.

In 1969 he set up his own studio and within a few years he was shooting regularly for British music magazines. In 1973 he was hired to become tour photographer for The Rolling Stones European Tour, which lead to a life-long relationship with The Stones, resulting in some of their most enduring portraits. Michael was very much in demand shooting constantly for all the top record labels and many of the great artists of the time, “ I worked 7 days a week be it in the studio, on tour, concert hall or in the darkroom” says Michael Putland, who now has over 400,000 images in his collection, documenting the music industry from the 60’s through to the current day.

Michael’s assignments took him all over Europe, Japan, Australia, South America and of course the United States working for major Record Companies such as CBS, WEA, Polydor, RCA and EMI.

In 1977 he relocated to New York, shooting a diverse range of artists such as Billy Joel, The Clash, Bruce Springsteen and The Bee Gees, creating many of the iconic images that we know today of the musicians of the time.

Sadly Micheal died in 2019.