Michael Childers talks with Timothy Young, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Yale Center for British Art, about his career as a renowned photographer and his connection to the world of celebrity. Hear his stories about meeting and photographing such British pop stars as David Bowie, Elton John, Ringo Starr, and Rod Stewart, and film and theater icons including Julie Christie, Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Laurence Olivier.
About Michael Childers
Born in 1944 in the United States, Michael Childers is a contemporary photographer. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he directed student films and began his photography career. Childers began to shoot portraits of his friends and took an interest in fashion and film photography. Over time, he met and photographed stars from the golden age of Hollywood, including Norma Shearer, Agnes Moorehead, and Rosalind Russell. He went on to become a founding photographer for Andy Warhol’s Interview and After Dark magazines. He also produced many covers for Dance magazine, featuring Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Joffrey Ballet, the Royal Ballet, and many others. He has photographed more than two hundred covers for magazines including Elle, Esquire, GQ, Life, Los Angeles, New York, Sunday Times Magazine, and TV Guide, to name a few.
Childers has also worked as a special photographer on many films including Coal Miner’s Daughter, Grease, Marathon Man, and The Year of Living Dangerously. In 2000, Childers published his first book of photographs, Hollywood Voyeur, with an introduction by David Hockney. His work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in London; the University of California, Riverside; and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York, to name a few. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Artists in Conversation
Join us for lively and inspiring conversations with some of today’s most notable artists. “Artists in Conversation” brings together curators and artists to discuss artistic practices and insights into their work.
This program is presented through the generosity of the Terry F. Green 1969 Fund for British Art and Culture.
Top image
Michael Childers, Sir Elton John, 1970, inkjet print on paper, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the artist
