PHOTO: Kim Gottlieb-Walker, photographer and author, whose lens defined a generation and whose prose brings that era vividly to life.
A Life Lived Through Lens And Literature
Kim Gottlieb-Walker reflects on her remarkable photography career and how it inspired Lenswoman in Love, her debut novel rooted in rock, romance, and the cultural revolutions of the ’60s and ’70s.
Kim Gottlieb-Walker has lived her life through the lens—both literally and poetically. From the shadowy backstage corridors of legendary concerts to the glimmering chaos of television soundstages, her gaze has captured the visceral pulse of cultural change. With a camera in hand and an instinct for intimate truth, she chronicled an era where music, rebellion and art collided in electrifying harmony.
Her photographic archive reads like a visual symphony of the 20th century’s most vibrant chapters—Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, John Carpenter’s iconic films, and the golden glow of Cheers and Family Ties. But Kim is not content to simply document; she reimagines, reshapes, and resurrects her own experiences through the written word. Lenswoman in Love, her fiction debut, transforms memory into melody, bringing readers into a world alive with the rhythms of romance and rock and roll.
What sets her work apart—both in image and narrative—is a fierce fidelity to emotional truth. The heart behind the lens is also the heart behind the prose. Her novel pulses with authenticity, shaped not only by what she saw, but by what she felt, loved, lost, and reclaimed.
Kim’s creative journey reminds us that reinvention is always possible, and that the stories we live can be just as compelling—if not more so—when retold through the lens of fiction.
How did your decades of rock and film photography shape the narrative and visual tone of Lenswoman in Love (published Feb 2025)?
I had such amazing adventures and access during the late ’60s and ’70s, from shooting interviews and concerts for the underground press, working on Music World Magazine (where I met my husband) and shooting for record companies and in recording studios. One of the reasons my heroine falls for my hero is because he turns her on to rock & roll! During that time, I photographed everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Bob Marley, and almost everyone who performed in Los Angeles during that time. The best music of the century! My heroine experiences it all through her camera, so the narrative is very visual.
Lenswoman in Love shifts between 1960s West Coast and Swinging London—how did you research and balance those distinct milieus?
The book is based on my own experiences. Most of my adult life was spent in Los Angeles and Hollywood. I lived in London for a year in 1970/’71 and fell in love with the city and its people. I also traveled to all the places mentioned in the book (including Pakistan, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Jamaica) and based my characters on the colorful characters I met along the way.
Your extensive photography career gave you unique access to studios and film sets—how did that insider perspective influence your fictional characters?
Having worked on the early John Carpenter films (Halloween, The Fog, Escape from NY and Christine) as well as being the unit photographer on CHEERS for nine years and Family Ties for five years, I am very familiar with what it is like to work on movie and TV sets, and much of my hero’s kindness to my heroine is based on the generosity and kindness John Carpenter showed to me when working on set, making sure I could always get the needed shots. He was a joy to work with! There were also a few disastrous experiences, also reflected in the book. I think the authenticity of my experiences are reflected in the novel.
Romance, music, drugs, and rock & roll feature strongly—how did you ensure authenticity without overshadowing character development?
My heroine, Maddy Garfield is a child of that era as was I, beginning as a folk-music snob, and then expanding her world to rock & roll through her relationship with future director, Jake Morgenstern, the love of her life. Her experiences with marijuana, an accidental acid trip, smuggling hashish out of Pakistan, as well as working with musicians, were all a part of her journey, as they were in my own life. Rather than writing a memoir, it was much more fun to write the book using the romance tropes of “reuniting with a first love – second chance romance” to give me a structure and room to use my imagination and add a little wish fulfillment.
Cameron Crowe praised the book as “the literary equivalent of a great song”—how do you approach rhythm and pacing in your prose?
The novel went through at least four complete rewrites. The first draft, written over twenty years ago, made every mistake a first-time writer can make, but after joining a fabulous critique group, it evolved dramatically, from third person omniscient to close first-person and it improved with each draft. I did not attempt to adopt any particular style, but tried to communicate everything through Maddy’s eyes. My object was to provide a vicarious experience of the most significant and colorful aspects of that time period and to entertain the reader.
You’ve also published photo books like On Set with John Carpenter and Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae—how did non-fiction inform your debut novel’s structure or voice?
My photo books were, ultimately, the inspiration for the novel. People were constantly telling me that my life had been so fascinating and exciting, that I should write a book about it. And reimaginging my life as a love story was the ideal path forward.
Your novel has often been described as memoir-like—how did you balance personal experience with fictional storytelling?
Fiction requires more structure than simply recounting one’s life! By making it a fictional memoir and a romance, it gave me the freedom to adopt a structure, invent characters, give my heroine challenges to overcome, and create the perfect hero, but all based on my true experiences, which provides the authenticity. I always write the scenes I can see most clearly first.
What advice would you offer aspiring authors hoping to draw on a rich personal or professional history for their fiction?
No matter what period or era you write about, people’s emotions and reactions to each other are still the same as those you’ve experienced in your life. Write your story. Create characters who are fully rounded based on the people you’ve known in your life. Don’t worry about perfection – the first draft is often referred to as the “vomit draft” and is simply the jumping off point. Find a supportive and experienced critique group to help you. Find a great editor who is familiar with your genre and the subject matter. Take dozens of classes on structure, character development, writing technique, editing, etc. As a photographer for fifty years, becoming a novelist had a distinct learning curve, but it is possible to reinvent yourself at any age!
