David Bailey Stardust Exhibition

David Bailey 'Stardust' exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London. A long awaited post, I went to see this exhibition in March, sorry its taken so long to write a post about it! The exhibition is still on until June so you still have some time to see this talented photographers work. 

"David Bailey has made an outstanding contribution to photography and the visual arts creating consistently imaginative and through-provoking portraits. This exhibition includes a wide variety of Bailey's photographs from a career that has spanned more than half a century" [ref: npg.org.uk]

The exhibition features over 250 images, personally selected and printed by the man himself. 

Images include; actors, writers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, models, artists and people encountered on his travels.  Terence Stamp, Mick Jagger, Johnny Depp, John Lennon, Beyonce, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and many more.

Bailey is known for his black and white photographs. Bailey has been one of the world's best-known and most distinctive photographers since he began capturing the swinging 60's. A personal room named after his wife, Catherine includes photographs of her pregnant. 

When I studied fashion and photography at university, I always looked at David Bailey's fashion work, but he didn't start out as a fashion photographer. He was contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue magazine in 1960.

There was one room that caught my eye, Bailey had experimented with a camera phone, colour photos. It surprised me as I am personally not a fan of phone pictures but he has now made me feel a little differently because at least people are taking more photos and experimenting. 

Catherine Bailey 

Overall, I have been very inspired by his work, I am going to take more portraits in every day life and would like to take more black and white photographs.

Johnny Depp 1995, London, Mick Jagger 1964, Jean Shrimpton 1961, Catherine (contact sheet)

                                                                                              

I bought a souvenir from the gift shop a magnet with one of my favourite quotes on it: 

"It's not the camera that takes the picture; it's the person" - David Bailey