David M Partner is a British portrait photographer. Born 1956 in Winchester, where he grew up; his parents were academics with a lifelong attachment to Italy, where he first encountered classicism and renaissance art.

Early life

Partner went to school in

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

and then at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

in Surrey, England. He first discovered photography at Winchester School of Art, taking portraits and photo documentary images. Partner's British influences included the early

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

masters David Hill, Robert Adamson, and Julia Margaret Cameron. He was also influenced by 20th century American photographers such as

Paul Strand Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. ...

, Edward Weston,

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...

and the surrealist Man Ray; and by the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

of painters. After art school, Partner moved to Paris, working as a photographers’ assistant, primarily with fashion and advertising photographers, learning to use mixed lighting techniques, as well as the business of photography. Partner worked on many major advertising campaigns including for Citroen,

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...

and G.H. Mumm. Partner also assisted on photographing portraits of Paris mayor

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

, Spanish artist Salvador Dalí and Russian artist and designer Erté.

Career

In the 1980s, Partner moved to London where his first published photograph was in the Sunday Times Magazine, and then also in The Observer, The Sunday Telegraph, The Daily Express and The Mail on Sunday on Sunday magazines. A feature on his work in the magazine Creative Review led to commissions from business magazines and design companies, where he worked on many of the top 100 plc's annual reports, developing a distinctive style of large format industrial photography. In 2005, Partner initiated a series of 100-plus portrait photographs of all United Kingdom government ministers, with the intent of highlighting the normality of the lesser-known personalities in government. The “Heads of Government” series, now held in several national collections, was exhibited at the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

in London during 2005/2006 In 2006/2007, in recognition of his expertise and interest in the institutions that have developed over generations he was honoured to receive the first ever photographic commission from the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

entitled ‘Working for Parliament’. Following in the footsteps, he later discovered, of Victorian MP and photographer Sir John Benjamin Stone, this saw Partner photographing over 100 staff from all departments of the House of Commons at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

. This was followed by an exhibition at Portcullis House, Westminster and a commemorative book. Partner has also exhibited international work from Africa and the Middle East and has received commissions from the UK’s leading companies. In 2004, a commission for British car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, resulted in the company’s then head of Global Marketing, John Edwards, describe his work as: “some of the best photographs of our product we have seen." Partner has been; a member director of the British

Association of Photographers The Association of Photographers (AOP), often referred to colloquially as the AOP, is a trade association for British & European professional photographers predominantly, but also has members based globally. History It was formed in London, Unit ...

, and a trustee of Rook Lane Arts in Frome.

References

Paris London Frome Rook Lane Arts Rook Lane Chapel Frome Sat 3 – 24 July 2010 http://www.rooklanearts.org.uk/details-10-07-paris-london-frome.html Kumba Kumba Six Chapel Row Gallery Bath 15–21 February 2008 http://www.chapelrowgallery.co.uk/kumbakumba.html Working for Parliament Portcullis House Palace of Westminster London September/October 2007 http://www.parliament.uk/about/art-in-parliament/search1/?q=Partner Heads of Government National Portrait Gallery London 18 October 2005 - 5 March 2006 http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2005/heads-of-government.php Heads of Government AOP Gallery London March 2005 Publications: Image Magazine March 2005 Issue 354 Names and Faces by Chris Roberts FT Magazine jan21/22 2006 Political Visions by John Lloyd http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6f4c5fac-8a22-11da-86d1-0000779e2340.html#axzz1SAcgyaCq Black & White Photography Magazine Feb 06 Issue 56 Frame of Mind by Alisa McWhinnie The House Magazine April 23, 2007 Parliamentary Photographer Special Report by Austin Mitchell MP f2 Freelance Photographer Aug/Sept 2008 Vol 2 No3 Changing Track by David Land

External links

* http://www.davidpartner.co.uk * http://www.headsofgovernment.co.uk * http://www.saatchionline.com/profile/174815 * http://www.the-aop.org * http://www.rooklanearts.org.uk * http://www.chapelrowgallery.co.uk/kumbakumba.html * http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2005/heads-of-government.php * http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6f4c5fac-8a22-11da-86d1-0000779e2340.html#axzz1SAcgyaCq * http://www.rooklanearts.org.uk/details-10-07-paris-london-frome.html * http://www.parliament.uk/about/art-in-parliament/search1/?q=Partner {{DEFAULTSORT:Partner, David M British portrait photographers 1956 births Artists from Winchester Living people Photographers from Hampshire