After an education of sorts at several London co-educational “progressive” schools, he left at 15, avoiding all exams and completed his education devoid of any formal qualifications. Having displayed a natural ‘eye’ for photography whilst on a school trip to Holland, his photographs were seen by the legendary photographer Tom Blau, who offered Gered an apprenticeship at his famous photo agency, Camera Press. Over a period of several months Gered worked in all the various departments that made up Camera Press, finally moving to the studio and going on various assignments in and around London.
In 1962, Gered went to Barbados with his family and began taking photographs professionally, producing a range of work from architectural studies to the first Boeing 707 landing at Bridgetown airport for British West Indian Airways.
On returning to London, Gered was offered a chance to go to Paris for the collections, working for the fashion photographer Alec Murray. In spite of the glamour and exciting atmosphere, it was clear that this particular area of work was not for him, and on returning to London he went to work for the ‘show-biz’ portraitist, Jeff Vickers. Gered had already photographed the Bristol Old Vic production of “Fiorello”, and his photos had been used for the front of theatre display when the show transferred to London’s Piccadilly Theatre. This made him the youngest photographer to have his pictures used in this way, so working for Jeff Vickers gave him an opportunity to develop his ‘show-biz’ contacts and to broaden his experience in the studio, taking portraits of many actors and other personalities.
During 1963, Gered met and photographed the singing duo Chad and Jeremy, who had just signed with Ember records. One of these photos was used as the cover of the duo’s first album, “Yesterday’s Gone”, and Gered found himself working in the music industry at a time when it desperately needed new, mould breaking images. He began to work with a new generation of producers like John Barry, Shel Talmy and Chris Blackwell photographing artists who were his own age group and who felt at ease with him in a way that had not been possible with other photographers.
At the end of 1963 Gered opened his first studio, at 9 Masons Yard in the heart of London’s West End. On one side was the infamous disco “The Scotch of St.James” and on the other the art gallery “Indica”, partly financed by The Beatles and where John Lennon met Yoko Ono.
Within a few months Gered had already begun to make a name for himself, and he was approached to photograph Marianne Faithful, who had just had a big hit with “As Tears Go By”. Working closely with Marianne he got to know her manager and producer Andrew Loog Oldham. In early 1965, Oldham asked him to photograph the Rolling Stones, who he also managed and produced. This was a major turning point in Gered’s career, because from this first session came the cover for “Out of Our Heads” (U.S. title “December’s Children”), and as a result he was asked by the Stones to go to America with them on their record breaking 1965 tour. During this 9 week (48 city) tour of the U.S. Gered photographed the Stones on stage and off, and got particularly close to Keith and Charlie. There were many adventures as Gered found himself on the road with the greatest Rock band in the world at the peak of their original success. Gered continued working with the Stones as their ‘official’ photographer, producing photos for albums (“Between the Buttons”; “Got Live If You Want It”; “Big Hits”; and several others), press and publicity, taken at home, in the recording studio, on stage and behind the scenes until 1967, when the band broke off with their manager, Oldham.
Through the 60’s, Gered continued in the music world working with Oldham at his famous Immediate label, and with many major artists including Jimi Hendrix, Free, Traffic, The Yardbirds, The Small Faces, Soft Machine; and through the 70’s with Slade, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Elton John, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, ABC, Duran Duran and many others.
During this decade, Gered worked in other areas of photography, including advertising, book covers and a brief spell taking ‘stills’ on movies, including several months in Sardinia with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on the ill-fated movie “Boom”.
In 1982 Gered had a major exhibition of his work at London’s famous Photographers’ Gallery. This was seen by over 16,000 people, a record for the gallery at this time, and it then toured the U.K. for over 2 years. In 1984 a book based on this exhibition, called “Hit Parade”, was published in the U.K. and U.S.A. Also in 1984 a book of his Rolling Stones photographs, called “Satisfaction”, was published. Both books were very well received, and as a result there began the growing interest in the Gered Mankowitz archive.
Over the last 20 years Gered has been based at his North London studio, a converted Victorian chapel, taking prize-winning photos for the advertising industry. He has also been a regular contributor to several major publications, and still works occasionally in the music business, photographing bands and singers for album covers and magazines. He has contributed regularly to Mojo magazine as well as shooting sessions with current artists such as Oasis, Verve, Catatonia, Kula Shaker and many others. Prints of Gered’s work are selling in London, New York, Washington DC, Las Angeles and Tokyo, and in August 1991 several of Gered’s images sold for record prices at Sotheby’s in London.
In 1991 Gered teamed up with the designer David Costa to form Ink Icon Ltd. and to produce a series of limited edition silk screen prints based on his archive. The first subject in this major project was Jimi Hendrix, and the result was so exciting that it was chosen to become the flagship image for the world wide Jimi Hendrix Exhibition and also the cover for the Polygram Int. C.D. package entitled The Ultimate Experience which has gone on to sell over a million copies. In 1993 they created three new images of Hendrix for the world-wide re-release of the great musicians albums. Their next project was to produce a set of 4 silk screen images for The Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge tour. In 1999 they produced Red Cage, a new Stones silk screen to celebrate the band’s continuing Bridges to Babylon tour. They are currently working on a set of fine art litho prints for production and distribution in the U.S.A.
In September and November 1992 Gered had a great success with his exhibition called ENTERTAINERS at the Cromwell and Ward Gallery in Dean Street, London, and in May and June 1993 the exhibition was at the City Museum in Portsmouth as part of the City’s Arts and Music Festival. In April 1994 the exhibition was enlarged to over 100 images for a four week stay at the prestigious Gallerie Rose in Hamburg, Germany’s Rock’n’Roll city. In the summer of 1994 it was in Birmingham and in September it went to Perpignan, France.
In March 1995 Genesis Books published a limited edition (1750 copies only) book of Gered’s Rolling Stones photographs entitled Masons Yard To Primrose Hill and in July 1995 there was an exhibition based on the book at The Govinda Gallery in Washington DC. This book sold out within a few months and recently copies were changing hands for £350, over 3 time it’s original price! In early 1999 Genesis published a further book called I-Contact, which contains Gered’s entire black & white Rolling Stones archive of over 3000 images reproduced as 12 x 16 contact sheets. I-Contact is virtually sold out with only 50 or so copies still available. In November 1998 there was a new exhibit at Govinda in Washington DC, and in December/January there was a show at Magidson Fine Arts in Madison Avenue, New York City. During this prestigious show the gallery was visited by Tommy Hilfiger who purchased prints of the entire show, becoming, in one purchase Gered’s single biggest collector in the United States. Subsequently Tommy has used many of Gered’s prints to decorate his flagship London store in New Bond Street, as well as his personal offices in New York.
Gered had several images in the Icons of Pop exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery in London, now currently touring the UK. In March 1999 Gered went to Tokyo to open his first show in Japan which is currently touring to three other Japanese cities. There are also plans for an autumn show in San Francisco and a show in Budapest. In 2000 there is going to be a major exhibition of Gered’s work at The National Centre for Popular Music in Sheffield.
Gered is currently working on a book of new portraits to be published in 2003 to celebrate 40 years as a photographer.