Camera Press is a photographic picture agency founded in London in 1947 by Jewish Hungarian Tom Blau, a portrait photographer of major contemporary political figures, musicians and film stars, who, in 1935, migrated from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

where he was born and lived, becoming a naturalised British citizen (also in 1947.)

Historic archive

The Camera Press archive is of historic importance, the agency having represented among others

Antony Armstrong-Jones Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', '' Vanity Fa ...

Patrick Lichfield Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005) was an English photographer from the Anson family. He inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 from his paternal grandfather. In his professional practice ...

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the theat ...

Norman Parkinson Norman Parkinson (21 April 1913 – 15 February 1990) was an English portrait and fashion photographer. His work revolutionised British fashion photography, as he moved his subjects out of the studio and used outdoor settings. While servin ...

Thurston Hopkins Godfrey Thurston Hopkins (16 April 1913 – 27 October 2014), known as Thurston Hopkins, was a well-known British ''Picture Post'' photojournalist and a centenarian. Education Hopkins was born on 16 April 1913 in south London, son of Sybil (n� ...

Baron (photographer) Stirling Henry Nahum (1906 – 5 September 1956), or Sterling Henry Nahum (sources differ), known professionally as Baron, was a society and court photographer in the United Kingdom. He was born in England of Italian Jewish heritage. Having embar ...

and

Yousuf Karsh Yousuf Karsh, FRPS (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002) was a Canadian-Armenian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century. An Armenian ...

, whom Blau had signed on as the agency's first photographer. Baron's first assignment for the agency was the wedding of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

; Blau was the first to distribute pictures of the event. It also counted among its members lesser known photographers, such as

Hedda Morrison Hedwig Marie "Hedda" Morrison (; 13 December 1908 – 3 December 1991) was a German photographer who created historically significant documentary images of Beijing, Hong Kong and Sarawak from the 1930s to the 1960s. Biography Born Hedda Hammer ...

in Sarawak, and mountaineer

Alfred Gregory Alfred Gregory FBIPP, FRPS (Hon) (12 February 1913 – 9 February 2010) was a British mountaineer, explorer and professional photographer. A member of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition that made the first ascent of Mount Everest, he ...

, whose work in distant parts of the British Commonwealth were of interest to the picture magazines thriving in the 1950s. Each decade is represented in the collection with some of the best known celebrities: Steve Emberton's picture of

Sid Vicious John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the ...

and

Nancy Spungen Nancy Laura Spungen (; February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978) was the American girlfriend of English musician Sid Vicious, and a figure of the 1970s punk rock scene. Raised Jewish in Philadelphia, Spungen was an emotionally disturbed child who ...

at Vicious’

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

home in 1978;

Clive Arrowsmith Clive Arrowsmith is a London-based photographer. Works He has worked for many fashion publications and is one of only a few photographers, including Brian Duffy who have twice been given the commission to shoot the Pirelli Calendar. He curren ...

’s

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

in 1980,

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, and

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

in the 1990s. In 2007 Daryl Bradford took over management of the agency from Roger Eldridge, former managing director who had joined the agency as an editor in 1969 and who died suddenly, at 63 years old, on the way to a radio interview about the 60th anniversary of Camera Press. Other former managing directors of the agency included Donald Chapman and Jon Blau. Emma Blau's photograph of

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...

appeared in an exhibition she curated of Camera Press imagery ''Camera Press at 70 – A Lifetime in Pictures'' which was held May 17–June 10, 2017 at the

Bermondsey Project Space Bermondsey Project Space is a not-for-profit art gallery in Bermondsey, South East London. It was founded in 2015 as Art Bermondsey Project Space and sponsored by Olympus in association with ''State/F22'' magazine. Located in a 3,000 sq ft conve ...

, 183-185 Bermondsey Street, London.

Gallery

When Camera Press moved to Butlers Wharf near

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule and Suspended-deck suspension bridge, suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones (architect), Horace Jones and e ...

from their original premises in Russell Square in March 1993 the agency opened and ran the Tom Blau Gallery at 21 Queen Elizabeth Street, London SE1 to exhibit photographers including Roger Bamber,

Robert Whittaker Robert Whitaker or Whittaker may refer to: *Robert Whittaker (fighter) (born 1990), Australian mixed martial artist *Robert Whitaker (equestrian) (born 1983), British showjumper *Robert Whitaker (author) (active since 1989), American author *Robert ...

, Gemma Levine and Marcus Lyon. In 1996 it became an independent charity and appointed a new director Keith Cavanagh. Emma Blau took over as Director of the Gallery in 2002 and in 2004 it became The Camera Press Gallery and changed focus to concentrate on showcasing its own photographers’ work.''

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpo ...

, December 8, 2004; 151, 7510; pg. 6

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.camerapress.com/about-us 1947 establishments in the British Empire Mass media companies established in 1947 Photography companies of England Photo agencies