Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => Discussing Photographic Styles => Topic started by: David Sutton on November 18, 2019, 08:25:59 pm
-
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/nov/17/photographer-terry-oneill-a-life-in-pictures
Not a photographer I was really familiar with. But he seems one of those photographers who happened to be at the right place at the right time.
I like his style and his B&W images in particular.
-
Just fascinating. Thank you for the share.
-
Yes, what an archive of achievement. My imperfect memory put him as one of a threesome, David Bailey, Lord Lichfield, and him. Once I nearly bought a print of an image of David Bowie and Elizabeth Taylor taken by Terry. Sometimes I wish I had, but it seemed expensive at the time.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
-
Yes, what an archive of achievement. My imperfect memory put him as one of a threesome, David Bailey, Lord Lichfield, and him. Once I nearly bought a print of an image of David Bowie and Elizabeth Taylor taken by Terry. Sometimes I wish I had, but it seemed expensive at the time.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The Black Trinity consisted of Bailey, Donovan and Duffy, of which select group but Baily survives in the flesh.
Lichfield was a fellow fashion and advertising photographer, and friend, but not ever a true part of the strict trinity group. As I remember it, the BT name was bequeathed them by none other than Norman Parkinson, who was that bit older and established during WW2, when the three others were kids. Lichfield and Snowdon were sometimes discounted because of their royal connections, after marriage, in Snowdon's case. That was a cruel perspective, because both men did fashion very well in their own way. But photographers have seldom been gracious to one another, and the old saw one about them holding hands so as to prevent the others from picking their pockets makes practical sense in a very competitive business.
O'Neill was always considered a press photographer and not ever (afaik) a fashion photographer, though he may have dabbled. There were also specialists who did the social party scene for Vogue, official paparazzi, if you will. I'm sure the other society rags had their specialist contributors too.
Looking at his work after all this time kinda proves his press credentials rather than his fashion abilities. He did what he did very well, and certainly got onto the PR train at the right stop. If you look at some of his white paper roll shots of women, there is very little invention going down; I am fairly sure he was happier on film sets, but that's me guessing, of course. They are two very different things, fashion and movie sets, and it might be quite hard to cut it in both. You can see the difference in styles and lighting if you visit the official O'Neill site: the women are way over lit, and even Bardot fails to look wonderful. That takes some serious lighting glitches to achieve, over which an on-set snapper has little say!
But hey, he had an amazing career, did our Terry! May he rest in peace and quickly find his new rôle up there!
Rob