David Bailey

David Bailey is one of Englands leading photographers who is eager to experiment within his work, including paintings and sculptures that are displayed throughout his house in Devon and his studio in London. He compares his work to an 1860's French photographer as he says that no one could recreate his work as he doesn't have a style or specific image; his work is original and of a very dangerous, minimal style.
He states that it doesn't matter whether or not someone else likes your work, as long as you're happy with it yourself and artist Martin Harrison agrees with this which lead a collaboration to producing and publishing a book of art and photography.
Bailey used to have a job assisting photographer John French on his shoots before French referred him for a job at the Daily Express. This resulted in Vogue seeing his images and offering him a contract to work with them as a working class person in a different area of work that what he was used to. This showed in his work as he undermined the traditional work of Vogue by pushing the boundaries of the models with different and unusual positions and poses.
He took inspiration from Cartier Bresson who's work showed him a different side to photographs in that they can be as deep and meaningful as art work is.
During the peak of his fame as a photographer, he also experimented with short videos, his most famous included the Rolling Stones and of his friend Mick Jagger.
Since 1966 Bailey has also directed many tv commercials and documentaries such as 'Beaton', 'Warhol' and 'Visconti' as well as experimenting with shooting album sleeve art for musicians such as The Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithfull and he was later hired in 1970 by Chris Blackwell from Island Records for publicity photos for his company.

In 2005 he was involved in a photographic series titled 'British Rule' for GQ which charted the British influence on  rock and roll, photographing several musicians including Paul Weller, Jarvis Cocker, Razorlight, The Futureheads, Kaiser Chiefs and Robyn Hitchcock.
Over the years he has received many awards such as The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship and Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Art  as well as having a documentary dedicated to him created by Jerome de Missolz titled 'David Bailey: Four Beats to the Bar and No Cheating.'
Finally, Bailey has exhibited many of his art work pieces as well as other mixed media held at London's Scream in October 2011. It presents portraits and paintings inspired by his childhood, influences, inspiration, fears and desires.