Brian Shuel obituary

The Guardian

10 hours ago

As the British folk revival expanded and developed through the 1960s and 70s, many of the leading performers were photographed by Brian Shuel, who has died aged 90. His early photographs were often taken indoors, in darkened folk clubs held in upstairs rooms in pubs, which required him to push the film to its limits, resulting in grainy but atmospheric images. He combined his artist's eye with often being in the right place at the right time. In December 1962, Brian was at the King & Queen folk club in central London to photograph Martin Carthy, but he also captured one of the floor singers – Bob Dylan on his first visit to Britain.
Three days later, he photographed him again at the Singers' Club, with the folk revival founding fathers Ewan MacColl and AL Lloyd in the audience.
In those early years, Brian photographed folk performers such as the Watersons, Fairport Convention, Shirley Collins and Pentangle, as well as visiting Americans including Pete Seeger and the Rev Gary Davis. In 1963, at the Edinburgh festival, he photographed the Dubliners when they were still known as the Ronnie Drew Ballad Group. He photographed performers both on and off stage, including those at the first Keele folk festivals in 1965 and 1966.
Brian was born in Dublin, to Beatrice (nee Oulton) and Ronald Shuel, who served in the colonial police in Nigeria. Brian was brought up by his mother's two unmarried sisters in County Wicklow. He was educated at the Royal School Armagh in Northern Ireland, and then, from 1954, at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. After completing his graphic design course, he did national service as a cartographer in Singapore; it was there that he bought his first camera.
On his return in 1958, Brian married Sally Boswell, whom he had met on his first day at college. His father-in-law, the illustrator and artist James Boswell, was editor of Sainsbury's in-house magazine and Brian became its designer, soon also photographing many aspects of Sainsbury's operations.
Through his leftwing activism, James Boswell became a director of Topic Records, Britain's pre-eminent folk record label, which had its origins in the Workers' Music Association. Boswell had illustrated many of their early record sleeves and in 1962, to learn more about the music, he and Brian embarked on a nationwide tour of folk clubs, travelling as far as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle and the Spinners' club in Liverpool.
Brian's photographs featured on Topic record sleeves and the quality of his work spread his reputation among the still-developing folk scene. He told Nathan Joseph of Transatlantic Records that he did not think much of their sleeve designs and was challenged to prove he could do better. A hundred or so sleeves followed, including the early records of Ralph McTell, Billy Connolly (with Gerry Rafferty as the Humblebums) and Mike and Sally Oldfield as the Sallyangie. Many of the sleeves featured Brian's photographs; he also designed the label's logo, as well as sleeves for American reissues on Transatlantic's Xtra label.
Brian's photographs brought him into contact with the English Folk Dance and Song Society, whose librarian, Ruth Noyes, encouraged him to photograph the Bampton Morris Dancers from west Oxfordshire on their traditional Whit Monday tour. The visual attraction of such seasonal customs was obvious, and Brian set about a nationwide pilgrimage to photograph them: the Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers, Padstow's Obby Oss, Ashbourne Shrovetide football – more than 200 in total. In 1972, he was the adviser for a BBC film by Barrie Gavin, The Passing of the Year.
In the 80s, Brian revisited many of the customs for a book, The National Trust Guide to Traditional Customs of Britain, which was published to critical acclaim by Webb and Bower in 1985. He also wrote descriptions of the customs: unlike many similar books, Brian had actually visited all the events featured. His approach was to capture the fun, sheer enjoyment and pride of the participants, whose confidence he quickly gained.
The full extent of Brian's archive of folk musicians and customs was revealed only when he digitised hundreds of images and uploaded them onto his Collections Picture Library and personal websites. His photographs continue to be admired and eagerly sought after.
Brian's assessment that his pictures were 'simple, straightforward, honest and well designed' was typically modest.
Although best known for his folk music and customs photographs, Brian also built considerable portfolios of images of bridges and London. His freelance photography work for Sainsbury's continued, and other commissions came from, among others, British Steel, Daily Mirror, the prison system (he photographed in more than 40 prisons), Kodak and the Central Office of Information. From 1985, Brian edited the journal of the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (Bapla). His wife Sal was Bapla's administrator, as well as a freelance illustrator.
Brian is survived by Sal, their two sons, Simon and Ben, and grandson, James.
Brian Courtenay Oulton Shuel, photographer and designer, born 4 March 1935; died 12 June 2025