Karl Ferris

Karl Ferris (born 1948) is an English music photographer/designer. He worked on album covers for Eric Clapton, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies and Jimi Hendrix. He studied at Hastings.

Early years Karl Ferris was born and grew up in 1948 in Hastings, England. He studied at Hastings College of Art, and focused on Pre-Raphaelite painting. This inspired his psychedelic photography style.

After school, Ferris signed up as a steward on a P&O liner that went to Australia via India.

Once Ferris returned to England, he served two years with the Royal Air Force (RAF) for his National Service as an aerial photographer. 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. 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

Jimi Hendrix

Ferris was introduced to singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix in 1967 through musician/producer Chas Chandler, who had "discovered" Hendrix.

1970s–2000 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.

Collections Ferris' work is included in the National Portrait Gallery, London.