Wednesday 28 July 2010

Numbers Game

Vacant beach hut space number 40 - Sheringham, Norfolk, UK

A few little ideas have started to become a bit more labour intensive than i first anticipated. The first is an official 'Norfolk Light' calendar that will be launched next month, and the other is an actual photo book release. I'll talk about the projects in more detail on my podcast which is due to be recorded in the next couple of days. 

Talking of photography books, I've been looking at David Bailey's ' Black and white Memories', a book published in 1983 that i managed to pick up recently (yep a secondhand book store ) which looks at Bailey's groundbreaking sixties work. The photography is, of course, superb and it's a diverse mix of styles. Photographers can sometimes become typecast as just fashion or editorial specialists, especially if they become famous, when in fact they do a wide variety of work.

I especially loved Bailey's early documentary work taken in the East end of London around 1962. Most of the photographs are of empty street, more than likely taken early on a Sunday morning. The old shops look almost Victorian , emphasised maybe by the worn old fashioned look decorating many of the shop fronts. The photograph captures a world long gone where high streets had diversity and character.

Bailey says he would like to be called a photographer, rather than labelled as just a fashion photographer. I think a lot of photographers think along the same lines. We just photograph what's around us and what interests us... just like David Bailey did in the East end of London in 1962.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Superb photographer influenced greatly by Henri Cartier Bresson. So much more than a portrait and fashion photographer. Nice mono Richard.