Latest news with #documentaryPhotography
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
John Chillingworth obituary
The documentary photographer John Chillingworth, who has died aged 97, was one of the stable of famous photographic names who worked for the pioneering weekly magazine Picture Post in the 1940s and 50s. Picture Post's unique characteristic was that it was accessible to all, but did not patronise the ordinary people whose lives were reflected in its pages. The magazine documented the postwar social change that resulted from the Beveridge report of 1942. Among other examples, Chillingworth contributed images of a social worker in Nelson, Lancashire, in 1954, showing her engaged in the delicate task of combing out the newly washed hair of an elderly woman seated at the kitchen table. As if in contrast, he followed up with a feature on elegant fashion models in Paris and London. A picture of the Leigh rugby player 'Nebby' Cleworth at work as a labourer on a weekday between games celebrated the dignity of labour rather than the glamour of winning a match. Chillingworth delighted in a sense of place and character, encountering the specific in the general, and local identity in a capital city. He developed a naturalistic style, and was able to pass unnoticed on assignment. Elements of the past often entered his photo stories, however contemporary. Jewish Whitechapel (1952) shows a news agency, its windows boarded and broken and an ad for the Jewish Evening News painted on the frontage, too high to deface. Nearby is a Jewish tailor's shop beside a large advert for a local theatre company, its text in Hebrew, offering the real sense of a distinct London community. Although he worked at Picture Post for only a short time – around nine years, on and off – it was an important period for Chillingworth. During the 1990s, when he regularly visited the Centre for Journalism Studies at Cardiff University, where I was working at the time, his conversation remained very much focused on his time at Picture Post and its 'family' of photojournalists. Born in the working-class district of Upper Holloway, north London, Chillingworth shared and understood the background of many of his subjects. His father, John, was an official with the National Union of Journalists. His mother, Georgina (nee Winterbourn, and known as 'Mabs'), was a housewife. The eldest of four children, John attended St Mary's Church of England primary school in Hornsey, then St David and St Catherine's secondary, which he left, like many of his peers, aged 15. Although he scarcely knew what the job would involve, he signed up soon afterwards as Picture Post's tea maker. On finding the darkroom more interesting than the office kitchen, he began spending his spare time learning and assimilating all he could. Picture Post photographers generally brought their camera films to be developed in the office. Alongside and observing the likes of Bill Brandt, Thurston Hopkins, Merlyn Severn and Bert Hardy, and a growing influx of émigré photographers including Gerti Deutsch, Felix Man (Baumann) and Kurt Hutton (Hübschmann), Chillingworth was an eager and adept tutee. Hutton in particular took Chillingworth under his wing, encouraging him to experiment with a camera, and remaining a lasting friend and mentor. Through Hutton, Chillingworth acquired the skill of passing unobserved in a crowd. Like him, he transitioned to becoming a staffer rather than an occasional contributor. According to the author and publisher Dewi Lewis in his monograph John Chillingworth: Picture Post Photographer (2013): 'He was soon producing a vast range of photo stories of a very high quality. Encouraged by Picture Post's legendary editor Tom Hopkinson, Chillingworth learned to combine 'storytelling' images with the written word, and worked with some of the finest magazine journalists of the age. Having been too young to serve during the second world war, in 1946 he undertook national service with the Royal Engineers, returning to Picture Post's office in Holborn in 1949. He left only a year before its demise in 1957. A picture taken of Chillingworth by Dan Farson on a beach in 1956 shows him clad only in shorts under a burning sun. All Chillingworth is wearing above the waist are a pair of cameras: a Leica strung around his neck and a Rolleiflex around his midriff. It is a fine example of Hutton's advice taken to heart: a high-speed Leica for shots taken of moving or changing subjects; a weightier Rollei to capture a portrait, pose or perspective taken with careful preparation. In 1989 a selection of Chillingworth's work was exhibited in 150 Years of Photography at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. In the same year he was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, described as 'one of the makers of photographic history'. He is survived by his third wife, Ros (nee Taylor), whom he married in 1987, four children from two earlier marriages, and his sister, Ann. John Chillingworth, photographer, born 18 January 1928; died 6 April 2025
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Film stars, photographers and fans: the other side of Cannes
After focusing on documentary portraiture from the 70s and 80s, Ridgers says he never expected to do a book about his experience in Cannes. However, after seeing Oriol Maspons' Ibiza series, featuring hundreds of photos from the days when the island was still relatively undiscovered, Ridgers felt maybe he could offer a similar viewpoint of the film festival. 'My photos capture a sense of time and place. Rather than heading to the red carpet, I went to the beach to capture what was happening there.' Here, Stallone stands on a chair surrounded by fans and paparazzi. All photographs by Derek Ridgers Prior to social media, many aspiring actors and models headed to Cannes in the hope of getting their photo taken and becoming famous. It was a trend kickstarted by Brigitte Bardot who, in 1953, posed in a tropical printed bikini to promote the film Manina, the Girl in the Bikini. The resulting photos became front page news. Ridgers noticed that photographers would roam the beach asking women to pose for them. Here he captures a woman called Jasmine who, before the crowd descended, was quietly sunbathing Ridgers explains that if a famous actor wanted to get papped they would arrive on a yacht that would dock at the main pier. This allowed all the awaiting photographers to rush over. Here the Hulk star and American bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno takes a turn. Ridgers describes his book as 'not a serious photo book. It is just a bit of lighthearted frivolity about an era which is no longer around' The fashion photographer Helmut Newton first began shooting at Cannes in the 70s. Ridgers said he attracted a huge crowd who would gather around to watch him at work. At one point, Ridgers found himself right at the front. 'Newton turned and said, 'Hey, you're so close, why don't you get in the photo too?' I wasn't sure if he was joking, but I did and he took some images. I have never seen them. It might have just been a trick to get me to move out the way' Ridgers says not everyone will like his book, pointing to shots of topless women and even photographers engaged in upskirting, a practice made illegal in France in 2018. 'It doesn't show the photographers in their finest hour,' he says. While some have argued it was a different time, Ridgers says, 'It wasn't that different. The word upskirting didn't exist at the time but it did seem absurd and ridiculous for photographers to be doing it. But that's why I wanted to photograph them doing it. I thought: what if someone they knew saw them doing this?' Ridgers says he was never asked by any of the other photographers to stop taking pictures of them taking pictures. 'If I stand near a beautiful woman, I'm invisible [to the photographers]. They don't see me. They don't care about me. They are just focused on her.' This shot was taken while having lunch at a beach club. 'These two were friends and larking around for the benefit of the cameras. There were loads of photographers hanging around. There's an obvious sexual metaphor here, but I didn't notice it until I was doing the edit decades later' A pornographic film awards ceremony called the Hot d'Or (a tongue-in-cheek take on Palme d'Or) was held close to the Cannes film festival from 1992 to 2001. Ridgers describes the 'intersection as crazy'. He chose this photo of Amore, an American porn star, as he liked the inclusion of the photographers standing on the bridge. The line stretched all the way around the pool. Ridgers had previously shot Amore in LA for a publication where they became friends, hence his front row spot. Amore died in 2016 aged 48 When Ridgers wasn't allowed to bring his camera to events or was trying to blag his way into parties, he would hide his Olympus MJU, a tiny, palm-sized camera, in one sock and a roll of film in the other. 'I didn't get accreditation most years but all the best places won't let you in with accreditation anyway.' This shot of Blur's Damon Albarn and his then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann, co-founder of both Suede and Elastica, was taken at a Trainspotting party. 'I don't think there could be a better party than that. It was wall-to-wall celebrities' Taking place close to the Croisette was an annual competition to be crowned Miss Dodue. 'Dodue means plump in French,' Ridgers explains. 'It was a common competition in seaside towns and this was quite a famous one.' He found this shot while trawling through his vast archive. Stored between his office and a garden room, it features more than 5,000 prints – '40 years' worth of negatives and a lot of transparencies' Ridgers captured this shot of the Hollywood star as he was being driven into the Carlton hotel. 'I was in a huge crowd,' he says. 'It was a melee. Everyone was rubbernecking trying to see who was coming.' Eastwood's driver happened to have his window slightly lowered, so Ridgers stuck his trusted Olympus MJU in between the gap and pushed the shutter button. The driver didn't stop. Ridgers only discovered he had a good shot once he got the roll developed. 'Eastwood obviously didn't mind me taking it. He is smiling at me' Ridgers could be described as the ultimate photobomber. 'They would shout 'monsieur, monsieur, move!' but I'd pretend not to hear them.' He has searched for photos of this shot from the photographers' point of view, but has yet to find any. Ridgers stopped attending Cannes in 1996, when updated French privacy laws meant he would need consent from everyone featured in a photo taken in a public area. But he is open to going again. 'I might try and find something else to do, some different angle. I'm never going to turn down a chance to photograph anything where lots of people get together'
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sebastião Salgado: Legendary Brazilian photographer dies at 82
Sebastião Salgado, regarded as one of the world's greatest documentary photographers, has died at the age of Brazil-born photographer was known for his dramatic and unflinching black-and-white images of hardship, conflict and natural beauty, captured in 130 countries over 55 hard-hitting photos chronicled major global events such as the Rwanda genocide in 1994, burning oilfields at the end of the Gulf War in 1991, and the famine in the Sahel region of Africa in 1984."His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life, the power of transformative action," said a statement from his Instituto Terra. Some of his most striking pictures were taken in his home country, including epic photos of thousands of desperate figures working in open-cast gold mines and striking images of the indigenous people of the the Instituto Terra, his environmental non-profit, Salgado and his wife Lélia also restored his barren former family farm in Brazil to thriving statement added: "Sebastião was much more than one of the greatest photographers of our time."Alongside his life partner, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, he sowed hope where there was devastation and brought to life the belief that environmental restoration is also a profound act of love for humanity."Salgado's later projects included working with 12 indigenous communities to create the Amazonia exhibition, which was displayed at the Science Museum in London and the the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester in 2021 and received the Sony World Photography Awards' Outstanding Contribution to Photography in 2024."Sometimes I ask myself, "Sebastião, was it really you that went to all these places?"' he said to an interviewer last year."Was it really me that spent years travelling to 130 different countries, who went deep inside the forests, into oil fields and mines? Boy, it really is me who did this. I'm probably one of the photographers who's created the most work in the history of photography."
