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.

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.

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

During this period he became friends with a fellow conscriptee who was a member of a Liverpool "Mersey Beat" group, and he was introduced for the first time to this type of music.

He 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 there to master photographer Harry Nygard.

From Nygard, Karl learned the skills of composition, form and texture.

He also began an involvement in the "Beatnik" lifestyle and began hanging out in coffee bars, listening to poetry readings and the progressive jazz of such artists 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.

He 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 received commissioned 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, he would join into 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" who invited him to sing cover versions of Rolling Stones songs with them, and so he began touring in and around Copenhagen with this 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 Spanish island of Ibiza he discovered and began shooting the innovative psychedelic fashion work of designers Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger —aka The Fool—and these photos were eventually printed in the fashion section of The Sunday Times.

This was the first time such psychedelic photography and fashions had been seen anywhere.

He and The Fool were then invited to come to London to shoot some more "Psychedelic" fashion features for other magazines, working from a shared studio in a former private dance theatre.

There, they created "Art Happenings" with self-played psychedelic music with Fashion shows, Freeform Dancing and Action painting, with Liquid Light and Photo slide projections superimposed on the performers by Karl Ferris who also shot music and fashion photos there.

These Event parties became the talk of the Music and Art scene at the time and famous current Pop Stars and Artists would drop by and join in the action, "Drop In and Drop Out" was the common slogan used.

Even the Beatles heard about the "Happenings" and came by and joined in.

Also, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, The Cream, Donovan, T Rex, Mick Jagger, Grahman Nash, Graham Bond and artists Nigel Weymouth, Hapshas and the Coloured Coat, Peter Max and David Hockney dropped by.

In 1967 Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger with their colleges Josje Leger and Barry Finch aka "The Fool" were commissioned by The Beatles to paint their – "Apple Boutique" mural covering the entire building outside and in.

Also they created a Psychedelic Fashion line that was to be sold inside the store, and Karl was there to photograph it all.

and he was invited to do a stage "Liquid light show" for Pink Floyd, which is believed to be one of the first ever done in England.

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

Hendrix disliked the UK cover of Are You Experienced, so arrangements were made for a photo shoot with Ferris.

Hendrix wanted "something psychedelic".

During a meeting with the band, Ferris told Hendrix that he wanted to hear more of their music from which to draw inspiration.

They accommodated his request by allowing him to attend several sessions for their second album, Axis: Bold as Love.

Ferris brought home tapes from the sessions, which along with Are You Experienced he listened to intently.

His first impression of the music was that it was "so far out that it seemed to come from outer space", which inspired him to develop a backstory about a "group travelling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth."

With this concept in mind, he took color photographs of the band at Kew Gardens in London, using a fisheye lens which was then popular in Mod sub-culture.