Henry Diltz was Laurel Canyon’s court photographer. Along with Baron Wolman and Jim Marshall, Henry essentially invented “rock photography” though he’d hardly planned on it. (He sold his first photo, of the Buffalo Springfield posing in front of a psychedelic mural, after impulsively accepting Stephen Stills’ invitation to join the band at a gig in Redondo Beach, California.)

A fine musician and founding member of the Modern Folk Quartert, Henry shot thousands of intimate photos of his friends and neighbors in the canyon like Joni Mitchell, Cass Elliot, David Crosby and the rest, some of which would become defining images of the ’60s.

Now 500 of Henry’s photos have been reproduced in CALIFORNIA DREAMING: MEMORIES AND VISIONS OF L.A. 1966-1975, an ultra-luxe, fancy-schmancy, 344-page large-format limited edition coffee-table monster with commentary from subjects like Mitchell, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Chris Hillman, Jackson Browne, Don Henley and the rest of the canyon mafia.

It’s available for $600 for the 2,000-copy limited edition and $1,350 for a deluxe version at the Taschen bookstore in Beverly Hills.
As it happens, Henry and I will appear together at Taschen Wednesday evening, November 14, to discuss the L.A. and Laurel Canyon music scenes and sign our respective books. (Taschen has laid in some of the last copies of the LAUREL CANYON hardcover for the event; if you’ve been pining for a signed hardcover edition, this may be your last chance.)

Those who’ve caught Henry and me at our previous gigs, from the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood to the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, know it’ll be a night rich with history, good humor and a chance to re-connect with one of L.A.’s most fertile artistic moments.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Henry Diltz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.