David Bailey's career began in the form of a true example of a "blessing in disguise"- through several incidents and unhappiness through his schooling education (due to undiganosed dyslexia), he spent a lot of time away from class- reportedly spending just thirty-three days in school in the space of a year. A few years on, he applied for a place at the London College of Printing, but was rejected because of his poor school record- which led him to become a second assistant to David Ollins, where upon he earnt approximately £3.50 pw, acting as a studio dogsbody and developing a personal hobby and interest of photography had he had from his youth.
In 1959, he became a photographic assistant at the John French studio (a photographer he had the chance to interview whilst with Ollins), and quickly climbed up the fame later, being contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue in autumn/winter 1960, whilst also juggling a great deal of freelance work.
Even to this day, he is perhaps most notable in helping to spawn the trend of the 'Swinging London' or 'Swinging Sixties' culture of high fashion trends and celebrity- socialising with actors, musicians and models at this time too gave him a "celebrity" status- and he infact was considered to be one of the first celebrity photographers.
Along with his high fashion work, Bailey has also created a lot of photographic record album sleeve art for performers such as The Rolling Stones, and has contributed to television commercials and documentaries as a creative director.
I have always loved the bold simplicity in Bailey's portraiture- images that really stand the test of time, and transcend time, only defined by the trends of fashion, but always with brilliant lighting and character (the portrait of globally-famed American actor, Jack Nicholson, above, being one of my favourites- incredibly raw and expressive).
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