Douglas kirkland

Award-winning photographer Douglas Kirkland (1934-2022) was on the cutting edge of fashion, photojournalism, and celebrity portraiture, working for the world’s most reputable magazines for more than 60 years.

Kirkland was born in Ontario, Canada. He joined Look magazine in his early twenties, and later Life magazine. As a young photographer in November of 1961, he was assigned to photograph Marilyn Monroe and, for several hours in a closed studio one evening, captured a stunning
portfolio of alluring and intimate images that survive to this day as a testament to her beauty and vulnerability. But it was his prior session with Elizabeth Taylor in Las Vegas for Look magazine that first launched his career photographing celebrities.

His work ranges from exquisite nudes to powerful portraits of celebrities, from photojournalism to fashion. It is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Houston Center of Photography, and the Annenberg Space for Photography in
Los Angeles. Kirkland’s photographs are collected and exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.

Douglas was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from numerous bodies including the highly valued Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement and the ASC (American Society of
Cinematographers) Presidents Award.
 

His wife and business partner Francoise continues his legacy as the Trustee of the Estate and the daily operations of the Douglas Kirkland Studio in the Hollywood Hills.