David Bailey 4/9

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DAVID BAILEY

The world famous photographer!

David Bailey is one of the most highly acclaimed photographers of modern times, and quite possibly the most famous photographer in the world. His name has become synonymous with the art of taking pictures, and in England, if you want to describe someone as an enthusiastic photographer, you would say that he is “a bit of a David Bailey.”

In 1960, David Bailey began photographing for British Vogue, and his fashion work and celebrity portraiture, known for stark backgrounds and dramatic lighting effects, transformed British fashion and celebrity photography. His work reflects the 1960's British cultural trend of breaking down antiquated and rigid class barriers by injecting a 'punk' look into both clothing and artistic products.

David Bailey was inspired by Henri Carter Bresson's work. 

In 1984, Bailey had a major retrospective at the International Center of Photography in New York. David Bailey was hailed as one of the most innovative photographers of the 1960s. His lively, fresh style successfully captured the prevailing youthful outlook of the decade. He worked consistently with one model, in the 1960s, Jean Shrimpton, and later Marie Helvin, concentrating on the relationship between the woman and the clothes, emphasizing the freedom of fashion with clear, striking, uncomplicated pictures. During the 1970s he began directing films and since that time has produced many books of his photographs.

 

Photographs by David Bailey

In April 2013 for the second time, Bailey was named as Vogue's Festival Official Portaitist.

 

Bailey is still working with the same enthusiasm and passion and still creating some of the most innovative images of our times. In the spirit of a true artist he is still inspired and excited by the prospect of taking a new photograph. “I always want to make a better picture than the last one,” he finally says, “because if I thought I have already taken it I might as well give up.”