Julian and Sean Lennon, 1986-2025. Julian and I have been close friends for 38 years. We met early in our careers—he had just finished his successful and groundbreaking album Valotte, and I was hired to shoot publicity photos. We hit it off. I went on to shoot his next two albums, and photograph him repeatedly over the years.
My connection to the Beatles runs deep. I grew up with two older sisters who were young teens through the British Invasion, playing their records through the house constantly. John was always my favorite. And building a friendship with Julian felt incredibly natural, despite all the history of growing up with his father’s music. I saw the weight he carried—the shadow of a father who was more famous than famous, yet Julian paved his own path.
He lost his dad in so many ways: first to fame, then to divorce, and ultimately, to a bullet. And through a lot of it, we’ve been friends, and support systems for one another. I’ve helped to support him in his photography career and he has helped me with my own creativity. Photography was something that could be his own, where he wasn’t compared to his dad. That shared passion became a big part of our bond.
Fate has a way of weaving these connections in my life. Early on, Rolling Stone hired me to photograph Yoko and her young son, Sean. Years later, I was with Julian in New York and had the chance to bring him and Sean together for a rare photo. They don’t see each other often, but they agreed—for each other, and for me.
Someday, 20 years from now, maybe 30, if they don’t already, I hope they will realize how important that image is. The Lennon brothers, together. Two musicians, each carving their own legacy, when for some the infamy of their last name would say enough.
#photographer #photography #portrait #portraitphotography #thebeatles #johnlennon @julespicturepalace@sean_ono_lennon
Jon Bon Jovi, 1988-1999. I remember the day I got the call to shoot @bonjovi ‘s album cover. I was a Jersey boy and a fan—it was a big deal—and the album was called New Jersey. So I jump in the Porsche and haul down the parkway to scout locations. I’ve got the long hair, the fast car, the cool gigs—I’m on top of the world…and then I hear sirens. Apparently I was going 90mph. Lucky for me the cop didn’t feel like going to court, so he downgraded it to 89. It was gonna be a good day.
I end up at the amusement pier in Seaside Heights and convince the owner to rent it to me for the shoot. The day comes and all these kids show up screaming—it’s chaos and the band’s loving it. It was this huge moment. Jon and I hit it off that day. We were close in age, had the big hair, the Jersey attitude. And then I got hired to do another shoot, and another, and another.
I went to London to shoot them for the cover of Rolling Stone for the Wanted Dead or Alive tour. I shot all the shows, behind the scenes, but days passed and I didn’t have the shot. I’m sitting in my hotel room like what do I do with these guys? And then a circus in town pops up on tv with this jumping horse, and I’m like you know what, why not? So I find this guy Loris the horse wrangler, and tell him I want to get his horse in the studio with Bon Jovi. It was insane—but he said yes.
They get the horse to the location, and we’ve got to get him up this old freight elevator. It’s this huge fucking horse, but we finally get him into the studio. I’m like alright Loris, we need the horse to jump a bunch of times behind Jon. And he’s like what? It’s a horse. You get a couple jumps max. Nowadays you look at that picture and think it’s easy, just use Photoshop or AI. But that day, it was this massive horse schlepped up an elevator, a wrangler named Loris, and a barefoot Jon Bon Jovi holding a pose while the building shook with each jump. It was the cover, and people still reference that image today.
Jon and my relationship grew from there. We’ve shot tours, movies, family portraits. We survived the 80s and the 90s. A couple of Jersey kids chasing big dreams—and all these years later, we’re still doing it.
Michael Jackson, NYC, 1994. I got hired to shoot the cover for Michael Jackson’s HIStory album in 1994. It’s Michael Jackson—like the biggest star on the planet. It was before the scandals...just pure global icon. It was a pretty big deal.
He had this very specific vision that he wanted to shoot: a 3D version of himself on the cover. The tech was super low-fi by today’s standards, but back then, it was ambitious. I had to shoot him from every angle—and I mean that literally. A full rig of cameras set up so that when I pushed the shutter they all fired at the same exact moment. It took me days to figure out the lighting, the shutter syncing, the camera angles, the tech...but I pulled it off.
So he walks in the room.
And I mean, I normally don’t get intimidated. But this was Michael Jackson. And man…he was fragile. Not just in reputation—actually fragile. He was very soft-spoken, you know, sweet. All I wanted to do was hug him and say, Michael, it’s gonna be okay.
I took these pictures that weren’t as stylized like the usual images you’d see of him. The pictures felt raw. They were revealing and harsh–like documents. You could see everything—the surgery in his nose sharp as a tack, the makeup on his collar, the cleft in his chin. They showed a side of him no one had really seen before.
They didn’t end up using it the way I shot it. The final result was more like an illustration. I wasn’t surprised–I mean, it wasn’t how he wanted to be seen. But years later, when he passed, every magazine came knocking for unseen photos. They all wanted an exclusive cover.
GQ came to me. At first, I was like, cool! I’m gonna have the cover of GQ with Michael Jackson! But I went to bed thinking about it that night and it really weighed heavy on me. They weren’t how Michael would want to be remembered. So I said no.
They were pissed–but I felt I did the right thing.
But now, with time, there’s a new context. The images feel like a historical document of this very troubled person. So out of an odd shoot with the most famous man on Earth, I ended up with these rough images that now feel museum-worthy, and they took on a whole new meaning. #michaeljackson #michaeljacksonfans
There are people who don’t just enter a frame — they define it.
Dolly Parton, Meryl Streep, Audrey Hepburn, Angela Bassett. Four completely different energies. Grace, force, wit, intelligence, presence. That’s the thing I’ve always loved about photographing women who know exactly who they are: I’m not inventing anything. I’m trying to keep up with it.
They’re from different generations, from different worlds, and different kinds of creative power. But they’re all unmistakable.
#dollyparton #merylstreep #audreyhepburn #angelabassett
The Oscars always come with a certain scale to them. Big stage, big mythology, big feelings. So shooting pictures for the Oscars campaign and putting Whoopi Goldberg in the middle of these oversized statues felt right to me. I lined up two long rows of life-size Oscars so your eye would land right on her.
Very elegant. Very Hollywood.
Of course, the truth is your eye was going there anyway.
Whoopi has won an Oscar, hosted the show four times, and spent decades doing what only she can do—being brilliantly funny, fearless, and completely original.
Some people walk into a frame and fill it. Whoopi always does more than that. She has a way of transforming it. Even surrounded by all that gold, she’s still the most remarkable thing in the frame.
The statues are iconic. Whoopi is legendary.
And I’m lucky enough to call her a friend.
#Oscars #TheOscars #AcademyAwards #WhoopiGoldberg
Happy 80th, @officiallizaminnelli !
Every time I photographed Liza, there was always something wonderfully offbeat about the moment. Cigarette in one hand, a Coke in the other, laughing between shots and calling for her assistant whenever we paused. She had a way of turning even the quietest set into theater.
Of course, when you’re the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, the world expects you to live in someone else’s shadow. But Liza never did. She built her own legend — bold, theatrical, irreverent — and an entirely new generation adored her for it.
One shoot still makes me smile. Just as I was ready to take the picture, she looked at me, lifted her dress slightly to reveal a tiny heart tattoo, and grinned like she’d just shared a secret. Click.
That was the shot. A moment you couldn’t plan—just Liza being Liza.
#LizaMinelli #Portrait #Photography #PortraitPhotography
Now open at Newark Terminal A ✈️📸
What Exit? The New Jersey Spirit has landed.
This new exhibition celebrates New Jersey icons through striking portrait photography by Timothy White, honoring the faces and stories that shaped the Garden State. Featuring portraits of Whitney Houston, Jack Nicholson, James Gandolfini, Whoopi Goldberg and more, organized by The Newark Museum of Art.
Catch it before takeoff and experience the spirit of New Jersey, right at the gate.
Bill Murray - “Scrooged” - Los Angeles, CA 1988. Paramount hired me to shoot this Christmas movie with Bill Murray. They say, “Look, he did the movie, but we have to get his face on the poster. He wanted to meet you, so we need you to go and convince him he’s got to show up for this shoot. Offer him whatever it takes. Just get the shot.”
So I drive out to the lot to meet Bill and he says, “You want to go hit some golf balls?” We’re driving through the streets of LA and pull up at a red light next to a car full of pretty girls. That was the end of the golf balls.
I finally sit down with him and say, “Look, we’ve got to get this shoot done tomorrow, what do you need to make it happen?” “I want some nice, friendly people to come hang out on set,” he says. I had an idea of what might work. Still fully aware this guy’s likely to disappear on me, I say “I’ll pick you up at 8am. Where are you staying?” “The Holiday Inn in Santa Monica,” replies Bill Murray. “What?” I laugh, thinking he’s pulling one over on me. “It’s mostly Japanese tourists there,” he says, “They have no idea who I am.” This was before Lost in Translation.
The next morning, I show up at the Holiday Inn, and call up to Bill Murray’s room. He answers the phone, “Murray, homicide.”
We drive to set, where he’s immediately greeted by a lovely group of models I’d hired for the day. They hung out on set and in the dressing room with Bill, laughing at his jokes and feeding him grapes while he was getting into makeup. I realized he needed more of an audience than just me.
He gave me everything we needed that day for the shoot. I went on to do several other movie posters with him, from Groundhog Day to Ghostbusters. We built this fun, friendly relationship.
Years later, my 11-year-old nephew was out playing his cello with his elementary school orchestra at a little event at the Met, and Bill Murray happened to be there. My little nephew went up to him and said, “Hey, Mr. Murray. You know my uncle the photographer Timothy White,” to which Bill Murray responded, “That asshole?” and walked away, leaving all these little school kids dumbfounded. Bill is just a quirky guy like that.
#christmasmovies
Hermitage, Nashville, 2025. The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville is one of the most historic hotels in the country—just a beautiful, special place. When the hotel approached me about exhibiting my work, I saw this wonderful opportunity to bring the music and entertainment history of Nashville and the hotel to life.
The Hermitage has a formal, almost European feeling to it—the columns and vaulted ceilings, the curated detail and design. It’s so perfectly maintained, yet has so much more character and style than most modern luxury hotels. The modern feeling of my pictures creates this wonderful juxtaposition.
We obsessed over every detail—the sizing, the frames, the layout—all dependent on the size and structure of the room and its purpose. We selected all black and white images that just pop as you enter the room. In curating the selection, I was given a history lesson on all these people that had stayed at the hotel over the years. These stories, much like my own, were brought to life by adding my photography to the walls. We filled the lobby, the bar, and the Jean-Georges restaurant with my portraits—musicians and entertainers who had connections to the hotel: Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, Jon Bon Jovi…this perfect mix that somehow just worked.
When it all came together, the hotel hosted this incredible opening with cocktails and live music, it was bigger than I could have imagined. I honestly thought the event was about the hotel and Jean-Georges, but when I arrived, my work was equally as celebrated. Jean-Georges flew down and spoke about the art’s influence on the hotel, the restaurant, and his menu, just as the hotel and his restaurant had impacted our decisions on the artwork. It was this truly wonderful, collaborative celebration.
What made it special was how equal it all felt. The Hermitage tells a story through architecture and design; Jean-Georges tells his stories through taste; I tell mine through photography. That shared storytelling made it all click into place. It wasn’t old meeting new...it was a sort of harmony.
Now those photos will live there permanently. They’ve become part of the hotel’s story—and in a way, part of mine too.
