Michael Putland
Michael Putland was born in 1947 at Harrow-on-the-Hill near London. After working at Sound Stills a studio in Pimlico London he briefly assisted Time/Life photographer Walter Curtain.
Deciding to go out on his own, he opened a studio with two friends and eventually secured work with the music magazine 'Disco & Music Echo'. His first assignment was Mick Jagger. He went on to photograph John Lennon and Elton John, among others, before moving to 'Sounds' magazine and contributing photographs of the biggest names in music. He began to travel extensively and worked for most of the major record companies, especially CBS, Warner, Elektra, Atlantic, Polydor, RCA and EMI.
Michael relocated to New York in 1977, where he continued his record company and editorial assignments, shooting artists as diverse as Billy Joel, The Clash and The Bee Gees. Whilst in New York he founded the photo agency Retna and after returning to London in the early eighties, he opened the London branch and continued to shoot mainly musicians, including Madonna and George Michael.
To this day he is still shooting though mainly Jazz, something that is dear to his heart.