Douglas Kirkland

Douglas Kirkland (born 1934) is a prominent photographer based in the United States, who has been at the cutting edge of fashion, photojournalism and portraiture, working for the world’s most reputable magazines for more than 50 years.

At age twenty-four, Kirkland was hired as staff photographer for Look Magazine and became famous for his 1961 photos of Marilyn Monroe taken for Look’s 25th anniversary issue. He later joined the staff of Life Magazine.

A Who’s Who of notable persons have posed for Kirkland—celebrities he has photographed include Mick Jagger, Sting, Morgan Freeman, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Orson Wells, Andy Warhol, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brigitte Bardot, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. Kirkland’s portrait of Charlie Chaplin is at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Kirkland is contracted for work around the world and has worked in the motion picture industry as a special photographer on more than 150 films including 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Sound of Music, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Titanic and Moulin Rouge! In 1995 Kirkland received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Motion Pictures Society of Operating Cameramen.