Douglas Kirkland

Born in Toronto, Canada, Douglas Kirkland's life work has taken him to every continent in the world (except Antarctica). Kirkland spent much of his early professional life in New York, where he joined Look magazine in his early 20s. He later moved to Life during its heyday in the 1960s. His assignments included essays on Greece, Lebanon and Japan.

He also took on fashion and celebrity stories, photographing Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlene Dietrich.

When he moved to the West Coast, Kirkland began working on major motion pictures, including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Titanic," and "Out of Africa." He has traveled to Australia to photograph Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge," and he spent a week on an aircraft carrier with Gene Hackman for the movie "Behind Enemy Lines."

Kirkland's fine art photography has been exhibited throughout Asia and Europe as well as in the United States. He has received a lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Operating Cameramen, and the PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association has named him Photographer of the Year.

Several books featuring Kirkland's celebrity portraits have been published, including "Icons, Creativity with the Camera and Computer," which featured Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Kim Basinger, Sean Connery, and Dr. Steven Hawking. His other books include "Body Stories," a chronicle of the human form from birth to old age, and "James Cameron's Titanic," which has sold more than a million copies in the U.S. alone.

His new book "An Evening with Marilyn Monroe," originally published in Italy, recently came out in an English edition.