Photographer Henry Diltz was the official photographer for the Woodstock festival in 1969 and is one of the most important recorders of the music scene during the 1960s and 1970s.
Diltz has trained his camera on Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, The Doors, The Eagles, and the 1960s supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash which sometimes also featured Neil Young.
He captured the cover photo for the band’s debut album, seating them on a battered sofa outside an abandoned house in West Hollywood when the trio had yet to agree upon a name for their newly formed venture.
Now, Diltz’s photos of the supergroup, known for their unique vocal blend and making hits like Helplessly Hoping, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, and Our House, have been released in a book titled Love the One You’re With.
Featuring over 1,000 photographs, Love the One You’re With is the first time that Henry Diltz’s photos of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young have been collected and presented in such number and format. Selected from an immense archive of color slides, contact sheets, and negatives, many are previously unpublished, while others are of iconic status.
The book’s photographic journey starts at the roots of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, centered on the ‘sylvan place’ that was Laurel Canyon in the late Sixties. Diltz photographed Graham Nash, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young in their previous incarnations in the Hollies, the Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield. He was then witness to musical alchemy as the group discovered their astonishing vocal dynamic, first performing to fellow musicians and friends.
“Nobody ever gave me the finger more than David Crosby,” Diltz tells The Guardian. “It was almost automatic. I’d raise the camera and he’d go [raises finger] like that. But then he would break out into a laugh and I’d get a great shot.”
Love The One You’re With, the new limited edition book by Henry Diltz, is now available to order from CSNYBook.com.
Image credits: Photographs by Henry Diltz courtesy of CSNYBook.com.