David

Bailey

By: Japreet Kaur

Background

– David Bailey was born on January 2nd 1938 Leytonstone London,

England, UK.

– He attended private school, Clark’s College in Llford. After leaving

school on his fifteenth birthday, he became a copy boy at the Fleet

Street offices of the Yorkshire Post.

– He served with the Royal Air Force in Singapore in 1957, after his

call up for National Service in 1956.

– After being demobbed in August 1958, he set out to pursue a career in

photography.

Background

– David Bailey had been interested from his youth in painting and

photography. He used to take pictures on his mothers camera.

– When he was little, there were only a limited choices in the job

market and Photographer was definitely not one.

– After being posted to Singapore while in the Royal Air Force, Bailey

started getting more interested in the field of photography.

– He came across the work of Henri Cartier Bresson, which greatly

inspired him.

– David bought his first camera in 1957.

Professional Background

– After finishing his national service in 1958, he got a job with

David Olin, who took photos for Queen magazine.

– In 1959, he became an assistant of fashion photographer John

French in London.

– In 1960 at age 22 he was working for British Vogue.

Subject matter/Techniques Used

– Bailey is best known for his advertising, celebrity, portrait and

fashion photographs.

– His portraits include 1960’s iconic personalities like Mick Jagger.

– He has also directed documentary films and television commercials.

– Bailey uses many techniques in his photography such as : Black-and-

white photographs, minimalist, is very graphic with high contrasts

between lighter values and darker tones, shot on a variety of formats,

and dramatic lighting effects in order to achieve sharp backgrounds.

Best Known Photographs

– Some of David Bailey’s best known work includes photographs of

Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton, The Beatles, and Andy Warhol.

– These photographs are legendary because they were captured

during the 60’s and are of iconic celebrities.

Photographer Effect

– David’s images captured something no one had been able to capture.

– He was a leading figure in the Swinging Sixties, and provided inspiration for

the role of a photographer.

– Among two other photographers, Bailey was one of the first celebrity

photographer which increased his popularity.

– http://pdngallery.com/legends/bailey/bio.shtml

– http://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Bailey

– http://famous-photographers.com/david-bailey/

Jean Shrimpton

Jude Law

Jean Shrimpton

1969

Mick Jagger

1963

Personal Reflection

The reason I chose David Bailey was because of the simplicity in his pictures. The

entire picture is carried by the subject’s emotions which is really interesting to me.

Also, in my opinion it is really difficult to make black and white pictures look good

and the way he edits them to give them the stark background makes me want to

take more black and white pictures. His pictures are chic but also simple and filled

with so much emotion at the same time. I think he’s able to capture a lot just by

the person’s face and that intrigues me. I LIKE THEM A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!