Rock Photographer Henry Diltz to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum (IPHF) will honor its 2020 class of Photography Hall of Fame inductees and awardees at its first-ever live in-person/virtual Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony on Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. CST. The awards program will be available free of charge to a global audience via a live Zoom stream on IPHF.orgSt. Louis broadcast journalist Art Holliday will serve as Master of Ceremonies. The ceremony coincides with  IPHF’s 55th Anniversary Celebration.

The IPHF annually awards and inducts notable photographers or photography industry visionaries for their artistry, innovation, and significant contributions to the art and science of photography. 2020 Honorees to be inducted into the Hall of Fame include:

  • Robert AdamsPhotographer
  • Lynsey Addario, Photojournalist
  • The late Alfred Eisenstaedt, Photojournalist
  • HiroFashion/Art/Portrait photographer
  • Jay Maisel, Fine Art/Portrait/Commercial photographer
  • Duane Michals, Photographic Innovator
  • Carrie Mae Weems, Fine Art/Conceptual Photographer 

In addition, legendary rock music photographer Henry Diltz will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award and photographic agency Magnum Photos will receive the Leadership Award.

"Despite the challenges we face as a society this year, we are proud to add these exceptional honorees into the Hall of Fame and celebrate their contributions to the art of photography," said Richard Miles, Chairman of the Board of IPHF.

Miles and his wife Pat Whitaker serve as general event co-chairs. Susan Sherman and Dr. Donald Suggs co-chair the Honorary Event Committee comprised of community and civic leaders. Major corporate sponsors include title sponsor Emerson, presenting sponsor Collins & Hermann, and dinner sponsor Thompson Street Capital Partners.

A nominating committee of IPHF representatives and notable photographic leaders with a passion for preserving and honoring the art of photography selected the inductees. To be eligible for induction, nominees were considered based on the noteworthy contributions they made to the art or science of photography that had a significant impact on the photography industry and/or history of photography. The inductees, though widely differing in style and practice, are individually seen as significant innovators in their respective fields. They are all risk takers who introduced the world to new means of artistic representation and expression.

"The 2020 Hall of Fame inductees as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner and Leadership Award Winner are stellar, and we are proud to include them," G. Robert Bishop, Chairman of the Induction Committee.

Following the induction of honorees, a live in person/virtual Fund-A-Need fundraising component will be conducted by St. Louis-based auctioneer Fletcher Lane. A fundraising auction of select prints donated by the honorees will be conducted with in-person guests following the awards program. Proxy bids for those not in attendance are available. Proceeds help fund IPHF educational programming, workshops, lectures and preservation of collections. IPHF’s collections contain over 30,000 photographs and 2,200 cameras that are stored in a climate-controlled facility.


About the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Henry Diltz (1938 - )

Henry Diltz is a music photographer who has shot more than 250 album covers and thousands of publicity shots in the ‘60s and ‘70s, including the iconic Morrison Hotel cover for The Doors. Other artists, whose fly-on-the-wall style portraits he’s known for, include musical legends such as The Eagles, Neil Young, Crosby Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, America, Steppenwolf, James Taylor, Jimi Hendrix, The Monkees and David Cassidy. He was the official photographer at the Woodstock festival in August 1969. His work has appeared in The New York TimesLos Angeles TimesLIFEPeopleRolling StoneHigh Times and Billboard. Diltz is a co-founder/co-owner of the iconic Morrison Hotel Gallery in Los Angeles, New York and Maui.

A popular musician in the 1960s, Diltz never set out to take some of the most iconic photos of our era – it just happened. Fresh from a globetrotting childhood, he attended colleges in Munich, West Point and Honolulu, where he became known as a musician and founding member of the Modern Folk Quartet. This led to many friendships with emerging recording artists in the California rock communities of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Diltz and his images are such fixtures in rock culture that he is interviewed regularly and often for books, articles and documentaries about the era and speaks regularly on college campuses. He continues to document the music scene from his base in Southern California.

For more information or to virtually attend, visit iphf.org.