25th of April, 2012
Logan Hall, Institute of Education, Bedford Way, WC1H OAL
Doors open 6pm. Lecture starts 7pm
19:00 – 22:00pm
Admission: Non-member £15, Member – £5.00, New creative member – £10.00, Student – £5.00. To book please click HERE or 020 7840 1111.
‘A positive attitude can really make dreams come true – it did for me.’
David Bailey needs no introduction. As a photographer, commercial director and film maker he has produced some of the most iconic images of the 20th Century. Tomorrow the iconic Swinging Sixties photographer will be in conversation with art critic and broadcaster Andrew Graham-Dixon, where Bailey will be speaking about his inspirations, his interests, what he’s learnt about himself and about other people in a career that has spanned five decades. With a reputation for being highly controversial, slightly confrontational and a tad random, this is bound to be an interesting discussion.
Bailey is a well known figure in the photographic world, who is regarded as one of the best British photographers. Born in the East End, he became a photographic assistant for the brilliant John French, then photographer for John Cole’s Studio Five before being contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue magazine in 1960, where they didn’t always see eye to eye with his way of working. While making his way to becoming a top photographer he travelled there alongside Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, where they all helped to capture and create the ‘Swinging Sixties’ in London.
In one school year, he claims he only attended 33 times and eventually leaving school on his fifteenth birthday, to become a copy boy at the Fleet Street offices of the Yorkshire Post. Racing through a variety of dead end jobs, before his call up for National Service in 1956, serving with the Royal Air Force in Singapore in 1957. The appropriation of his trumpet forced him to consider other creative outlets, when he decided to buy himself a Rolleiflex camera.
In August 1958 he became determined to pursue a career in photography, purchasing his second camera a Canon Rangefinder. Unable to obtain a place at the London College of Printing, because of his school record, he became a second assistant to David Ollins, in Charlotte Mews. Soon after landed him an interview with photographer John French, which lead him to becoming a renowned photographer. ‘Swinging Sixties’ of the 1960s: a culture of high fashion and celebrity chic. Bailey, Donovan and Duffy socialised with actors, musicians and royalty, where they found themselves elevated to celebrity status, suddenly a new age of photographers had been born. Together, they were the first real celebrity photographers, named by Norman Parkinson as “The Black Trinity”.
Information: D&AD
