Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve had this obsession with the psychedelic aesthetic, whether it’s the music, the art, the fashion, or the photography. As soon as I saw these photos, I knew that I wanted to recreate that magic and I try my best to make everything I do have that psychedelic look.
The inventor of psychedelic photography is Karl Ferris, who has taken pictures of Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, Cream, Pattie and Jenny Boyd, and The Hollies. What makes these photos special is infrared photography and colour inversion techniques that makes the psychedelic styling really pop. It’s an inimitable aesthetic although many have tried, including myself, but doing it digitally will never be the same as the analogue days of the 60s. His work has been seen on album covers and pages of magazines. Most recently, you can see his incredible photography on the Fire In Her Eyes album cover for Look Into The Sky. You can read my interview with Daniella Livingstone here.
The album cover that first put him on the map was The Hollies’ Evolution, described as the first psychedelic album cover and I can’t argue with that. The Hollies were evolving in their sound, moving away from beat and poppy music and becoming more psychedelic. Ferris told Hypergallery that he met Graham Nash and the two started talking about photography since Nash’s father was a photographer and he had tried his hand at photography, but without much luck so he needed a photographer who could capture his vision. Ferris hadn’t premiered his signature infrared photography technique yet, so this one looks a bit different from his most famous work, but it’s still iconic and an important step in the evolution of his art. He layered different photos to create that iconic rainbow look.
How do a creative, groundbreaking photographer and a groundbreaking legendary guitarist meet? Karl Ferris said that he had first seen Jimi Hendrix at a show at the famous Bag O Nails club in London in 1967. So many famous faces were in the audience, awestruck, hearing sounds that they’ve never heard before. Imagine being the first in your bloodline to hear Jimi Hendrix! Jimi Hendrix loved the work that Karl Ferris did for The Hollies’ Evolution album cover and he told his manager Chas Chandler (formerly of The Animals) to get in contact with Karl Ferris to commission him to to photography because he was disappointed with the UK album cover for Are You Experienced?, thinking it looked lacklustre. For the US version, Ferris used a gigantic Nikon fisheye lens and infrared photography and shot the photos in Kew Botanical Gardens, choosing it for the beautiful foliage. Not only did he do the photography, he also was responsible for the styling and he knew how to do it well because of his background in fashion photography. He rejects the label of photographer because he’s more than that! It’s not just clicking a button, there are so many other things you need to do to get the best shot. He also encouraged Jimi Hendrix to wear his hair natural because it looks far out. They celebrated after the shoot at a pub, drinking pints and smoking joints. In the days of film photography you didn’t know the outcome until the photos have been developed, but it was a situation where he got it right the first time and that first photo shot at Kew Gardens made the US cover.
In the 60s there was a whole Art Nouveau revival and you can see that in the designs of Granny Takes a Trip, the exhibition of Aubrey Beardsley’s artwork at the V&A in 1966, and Alphonse Mucha’s work from the 1890s being remixed with more saturated colours and psychedelic typefaces. This Belle Époque art took some inspiration from medieval aesthetics and medieval was another thing making a comeback in the late 60s and you can hear a bit of that in Donovan’s music. Karl Ferris did multiple covers for Donovan. These iconic photos were taken in Cornwall. He told It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine that he got into Pre-Raphaelite paintings and Art Nouveau when attending Hastings College of Art. While serving in the RAF for National Service, he learned even more about photography, training as an aerial photographer. A similarity there to one of my favourite filmmakers, Russ Meyer, who had served in WWII and worked as a combat cameraman. You can learn so much about art from the most unexpected places and everything in life is a learning experience.
He met Eric Clapton in his Yardbirds days and Clapton wanted to work with him, but it would take a couple of years until that collaboration. His then girlfriend Charlotte Martin was one of Ferris’ models. For those pictures, Cream were wearing designs by Dutch psychedelic art collective The Fool, who Robert Stigwood commissioned for some clothing designs. Ferris had previously worked with The Fool in Ibiza. Ferris later moved to Ibiza and Joni Mitchell was once a guest at his house.
As someone who loves fashion, I’m going to try my hand at a Donovan homage. I love Donovan’s music and I saw him in concert a few years ago in Cork and I was in the front row. I wore my vintage bell sleeved dress and a Gunne Sax blouse underneath. I wore some vintage necklaces. The jade ones were my grandmother’s and she bought them in China and the coral coloured one is a vintage one from around the 60s that I got with a vintage order online.
Here are some photos I edited inspired by Karl Ferris. He made a really nice comment saying: “Very Trippy Angie!”
Here’s the companion video. It was too hot to wear a cape outside so I didn’t wear it in the photos:
You can follow Karl Ferris on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
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