New York native Catherine McGann picked up photography while studying painting in art school in the mid ‘80’s. Instantly smitten, she abandoned her brushes and hasn’t looked back. Shortly after graduation she moved to the East Village, where her journalistic, documentary style found a perfect home at the weekly alternative newspaper, The Village Voice.
She quickly became a Contributing Photographer, shooting assignments at a breakneck pace throughout the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, including a regular weekly nightlife column which continued for fifteen years with famed New York writer/personality Michael Musto. Catherine documented some of the most compelling personalities in music and beyond including: Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson, Green Day, Aretha Franklin, Black Crowes, Diamanda Galas and others.
Catherine’s client list soon expanded to include Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Spin, Mute Records, Guitar World and many others. Her work has been published extensively internationally, and she has been profiled in publications in New York, London, and Tel Aviv. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Believing that shooting a portrait is “an intimate thing, a two way street” Catherine favored working on location in 35mm black-and-white: “I’d rather be a fly on the wall in someone else’s world than try to fit them into an artificial world that I impose on them. I really believe in ‘the decisive moment’, that the best pictures are truly spontaneous, and almost given to you, somehow…”
Ready for a change, she packed up her negatives in 2001 and moved to Los Angeles with her family, where she currently lives and works.
Green Day had just hit it big and I was assigned by Entertainment Weekly magazine to shoot the band backstage at Madison Square Garden.
Marilyn Manson backstage at The Jon Stewart Show in New York in June 1995
Johnny Cash at home on his ranch in San Antonio, Texas in 1960, he always wore black, because he identified with the poor & the down trodden
Punk icon Sid Vicious reading MAD magazine in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the Sex Pistols one and only US tour in January 1978.
Unique contact sheet print of AC/CD's, Angus Young by photographer David Corio, taken at Hammersmith Odeon, London, November 1st, 1979
As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa's diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often difficult to categorize.
Johnny Cash was known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice and a trademark look, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black"
Van Morrison is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter and musician who is usually known by the name "Van the Man" to his fans.
Sir Elton John is an English pianist, singer-songwriter, composer & pop icon who has sold millions of records and won countless awards.
A photographic celebration of Manchester's rock music history. Free exhibition at the University of Manchester
Welcome to our Jazz & Blues Print Collection - over 50 years of iconic images of the world's greatest Jazz & Blues musicians
A fantastic curated collection of museum quality fine art prints by leading music photographer Barry Schultz
For eight years photographer Brian Duffy worked with David Bowie and shot his most iconic and enduring images. View his fantastic collection
