Elodie Mailliet Storm from Getty Images was a friend of Ken Regan, she wrote this text.
Photographer Ken Regan passed away this week, and we are sad at the loss of not only such an incredible photographer and person – but also a friend.
At Getty Images, we had the great privilege of knowing Ken and representing his work.
Ken’s incredibly vivacious personality and gentle spirit quickly built deep friendships, and he had countless stories to tell of his many years on the road. But Ken could also listen to others like no one else. He could count among his close friends many of his subjects including Ted Kennedy, Clint Eastwood, Bob Dylan, Jonathan Demme and Mick Jagger.
Ken was one of the very few photographers whose 40-plus year career explored every aspect and genre of photography successfully: from sports and news photography to political and music documentary, to portraiture and on-set photography.
He could do it all, and with bravado, capturing very special moments in history.
Born and raised in the Bronx, Ken started his career photographing major sporting events. He took some of the most iconic images of boxer Muhammed Ali, which Ali used for his own marketing.
Ken went on to work as a photojournalist covering many topical issues including the riots and demonstrations in the United States surrounding the Vietnam War, and also photographed in the Persian Gulf and Bosnia.
Unafraid to change paths, Ken covered many political assignments and worked exclusively with the Kennedy family, photographing everything from campaigns and conventions to annual family gatherings. In the 1970s Ken founded Camera 5, his own photo agency that represented 15 photographers
The mid ’70s also saw Ken touring with some of the most renowned musicians in Rock N Roll history, including Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. In the ’80s he covered Amnesty International and Live Aid.
By the late ’80s, Ken had more than 200 magazine covers to his credit, as well as numerous awards from the Missouri School of Journalism and World Press Photo, as well as the New York Newspaper Guild.
In the past couple of decades, Ken worked for the film industry, shooting stills and special projects working closely with visionaries such as Clint Eastwood, Jonathan Demme and Ang Lee capturing famous faces including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson.
“My mind is filled with various memories of Ken,” Romanelli said, “but one of my favorites is the contrast between watching Ken run from assignment to assignment during his coverage of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona with barely any time for a meal or a nap and then watching him sleep soundly in the airport as we awaited our flight back to New York. We briefly debated if we should just let him sleep in peace and not wake him for the flight, but in the end we could not leave him behind. Ken lived life with the same gusto, always on the run, always making it happen. Now Ken has left us behind to finally rest in peace, he will be greatly missed by all of us whose lives he has touched.”
Elodie Mailliet Storm
