 How's it? How's it? Today we're going to look at three amazing photographers whose surnames start with the letter B and we're going to look at David Bailey and I haven't got the cover here, but we're going to look at some of this great photography. Now you may be familiar with David Bailey, but if you're not, this is some work that goes beyond probably what you're familiar with. We're also going to look at Larry Burrows. Larry Burrows, yes. He's one of my favorite photojournalists and he's best known for the work that he did in Vietnam, which is quite self-evident here, and the last guy is continuing somewhat with the war theme. Although he's not a war photographer, certainly not a documentary photographer, but that is Cecil Beaton. It happens to be this book which is taken during the war period, you know, sort of the Second World War, but he's most well known for being a society photographer here in the UK and I think these days, probably if you are familiar with his work, it's through the Netflix series The Crown, which he features in quite a lot. So the first guy we're going to look at is David Bailey and I can't believe that it's taken so long to look at his photography because I'm a big fan of his work and I feel that there seemed to be some sort of odd thing that outside of the UK he's possibly not that well known. So hopefully this look, this quick look at this book is going to help to rectify that a little bit. David Bailey is probably best known for his fashion photography and all that stuff that he was doing in the 60s where he was revolutionizing with a couple of other photographers. Basically the whole British landscape of kind of, you know, was some mainstream photography, if you want to call it that. However, I've chosen this book because it was the first book of Bailey's that I've bought, but I think it also gives a good insight to him as a photographer rather than a society figure. And one of the things, certainly as a young photographer that I really enjoyed about this is that this book is chock full of juxtapositions. That's when two images work side by side. And you can look at this. We've got this portrait, the family portrait and I'm going to say it's Lawrence Olivia. If I'm wrong, let me know in the comments. And you know, it discreetly with all the heads here and then these flying helmets. Now the connections are not always obvious, but that is kind of the point about juxtaposition is that you combine the two and it makes us, as the viewer, see a different story. So that's a really lovely kind of example of what is sort of shot through in this book. This is another fantastic example because we have Pete Townsend on the right here looking all very bedraggled. And then what looks like, you know, a bird skeleton. So you can always say like he's like a dinosaur because he's reminiscent of one of those dinosaurs that you see in, you know, in a museum. And this is kind of the photography that I was first introduced to with Bailey, this very sort of stock square white background high key kind of thing, which at the time was like, wow, this is really amazing. But of course, you know, you see it a lot instead of Abaddon, which, you know, he did it sort of years before. But it just, it made me feel like this is kind of the photography. This is how proper in inverted commas photography should look. I am a sucker, an absolute sucker for a lovely toned black and white print that has a lovely sort of tonal range. And these are kind of the prints, these two images here specifically, because they're very contrasty in so much not sort of the prints themselves, but the tones within the tones are very nicely defined. And and it kind of summed up sort of two things for me as a young photographer. First of all, there was the very black sky that's here. There's obviously a red filter on the the black and white film. So that was kind of one of the things because I just recently learned how to do that. So I was feeling chuffed with myself that I knew how to make a black sky. But then also you have this kind of really quirky odd, I don't know what you even need to call it. I'm going to guess that this is probably his wife at the time, maybe a baby or whoever. But it doesn't make it's a very unusual looking image, which intrigued me as as a young photographer because it was about creating a world planted in my mind the idea that photography is theatre. As a young photographer, I just assumed that all great photography just sprung fully formed from the eyes and the lenses of the great photographers and that they somehow had an ability to just pluck from the amazing images. And of course that's not the case at all, that they all draw inspiration from other photographers have gone before and photographers are working at the same time. And this photograph is a case in point. I see a lot of Bill Brandt, for example, in this image. And it's just a reminder to us that even though somebody else has done something, we shouldn't be afraid to take that as inspiration to change it and kind of see how we can interpret that feel. It's odd when you go back through older photographers or photographers who you knew when you were younger and you see influences that have leached into your own photography without you being necessarily aware of where they came from. And this photograph here on the right is so indicative of that that I love photographing urban landscapes in this kind of fashion. But it was never a conscious decision to do that. And I wonder if in some small way this photograph has influenced me and shaped the way that I see the world. It's worth bearing in mind. And I quite and quite figure out the relationship between Sting here and this mannequin Valentino on the right hand side. There must be something, but that's the joy of juxtaposition. That it is open to our own interpretation. And sometimes it is just it does leave certainly me scratching my head going like what what's going on. I mentioned earlier obviously that Cecil Beaton is these days within the general public probably most well known for his portrayal in the Netflix series The Crown where he plays the society photographer. Somebody plays him and he was a society photographer. But during the Second World War he was employed by the Ministry of Information to document the effects of the war on the UK. And he travelled to India and Burma places like that. And that's what we're going to be looking at in this particular book. I think this is a great introduction to his photography because I find it interesting that he brings into what is sort of gritty real social commentary photography all the aesthetics that he is also known for in his society photography. So if you're looking for two things that are completely juxtaposed this is a fantastic book and I can't wait to jump into it with you. Cecil Beaton society photographer that's kind of what most people will think of when the name Cecil Beaton comes up but he was asked you know in in the war years to document the world it was the UK and the effects of the war for the Ministry of Information. And this photograph here that we start off with is and had apparently a massive impact on America's perception of the war in Europe that you know all of a sudden is humanised. There was another photograph in this book that leaped out at me the second I saw it and I had shame on me for not pages through this book properly earlier. One of the drawbacks I think of being a addicted to books is you don't always go through them properly and and this I should have because this is the this photograph here is the very first photograph that I was ever shown in my visual communication course at photo school and I don't I don't know who photographed it but now now I do it is Cecil Beaton and I'm trying to think about why they showed it and it's completely obvious it's because it's an idea in framing and how we structure a photograph to show things you know we have the the it says the chief of police yes so the chief of police is here in front of his men and they are sort of encapsulated in this wonderful circle here and they are I think and you know they are put there on purpose they're specifically arranged like this because you have what could just be a very mundane head shot of you know policemen crafted and put together in a style that makes them look stylish and that's the beauty of Cecil Beans all of these photographs have a style and a beauty to them Queen Elizabeth on the right hand side and that she is sitting there and it is glamorous and it is everything that Beaton is known for and then we look at some of the other photography that comes through and this is I cut you can't get further from that then this this bombed out says some polls look at this photograph so this is it says clearing fallen debris from the roof of Samaria LeBeau and Sheepside and it says the church designed by Christopher Christopher and was completely destroyed a few days later this is a photograph that is absolutely beautiful the lighting on it is is fantastic and also as a social record that it has you could have just gone in there and taken some pictures of you know men with a wheelbarrow but he's taken time to document the building and the people and the places so we have context when I was flicking through this book you know researching for this video I had to show my wife this because I was like you know this this is so typical I think of of a certain kind of British person in the 1940s and stuff and and Cecil Beans was certainly you know in in that mold of a society person you know there here he is in India at the the viceroy's house where he'd been posted in 1944 so the war is still on but it's like you know he goes up to to assist here lady Weville who was the the vicenary viceroy I don't know and well you can almost imagine the conversation is what darling you know we simply must have a picture of you in this divine dress on this grand staircase you know sort of thing and it's like but dude you're here to photograph the war effort and and I love it sometimes you know it says like you can take the man out of the thing but the thing can't you know it's like this I think just sums everything up and you compare that with the photograph of the young lady you know the girl with the bandage on her head at the beginning it's like wow you know just sometimes you just there is the nature of the beast and you just have to go with it I have covered Larry Burroughs here on the channel before so that's kind of if you want more in-depth about him that go and look at that I'll link at the video for you below but looking at this book it gives us an insight into how war photography or conflict photography is much more than just taking pictures of people well essentially shooting each other this is the book Larry Burroughs Vietnam which if you are able to get a copy of it I would certainly recommend because it is a fantastic book and I will link as always to all the books in the description below all right if this if the pages flick around a little bit I'm going to have because I'm this book's got slightly shiny sheen to the pages I'm holding left that page down with my fingers so this sort of thing anyway we're talking about Vietnam we're talking about Larry Burroughs and and Vietnam is I think it's fair to say you know it has been documented a lot so it is welded into the published the public consciousness irrespective of of what nationality you are there are if you close your eyes and think of Vietnam there are certain images and looks and feels of images that are spring to mind and I I am going to make statements and say that Larry Burroughs was instrumental in putting those feels and looks in there and these two photographs here absolutely I think are a great starting point because he uses framing a lot so that you can see the the the door of the chopper here this is you know sort of showing us through and that puts us in the place it makes us feel like we are in the moment as opposed to just kind of you know somebody looking at a photograph this particular image is also indicative of this kind of feeling like we are there in in the the place that's happening and and I don't know if this is true or not I'm going to like to think of us but apparently Larry Burroughs would make pilots fly in a certain way and and a formation to get a better photograph a better composition now anybody who's had experience in the Air Force is dream Vietnam tell me if that was something that could actually have happened I'd be dying to know Larry Burroughs spent time with the people who was photographing and we will look at some of the images in a second that really illustrate that but that's the point of why I think when you look at his photographs we feel that we are connected with his people somehow because they are behaving completely naturally around him and this particular photo story which I think is one of the greatest photo stories that I've ever seen Yankee Papper 13 is a case in point in it it follows the exploits of this young man who in the course of his day you know was doing all the bits and the bobs that are part of you know just being a soldier being a you know being part of this chopper battalion crew I don't know what the term would be and Larry is is photographing all of the stuff that goes on and and this particular image as well it's a shame that it's on a gatefold because it was really great photograph but the camera is actually out on a boom so you can't really see it here but if you go watch the Larry Burroughs video that I'll link to below you can see that so the camera is kind of out here somewhere outside the the helicopter and you know he's there doing all the photographs and they get into a firefight and again the full story is on the the video that I do with Larry Burroughs and it just it's the way that the whole thing it goes through and is is told it makes us feel like we are part of the whole thing and and and we really feel gut wrenched that when this photograph and this is one of those famous photographs of you know a Vietnam really hits us in the gut when we look at it and I'm going to have to flick through because I think YouTube might get a bit fidgety about some of these things but we see the anguish in this this gentleman's face you know if you contrast that with with the way that he looked earlier and I'm sorry this is a bit you know I shouldn't be flicking through this like but whatever you know okay this is the man he started off like this and then that that's what good great photography can do as always I really hope that you've enjoyed this video and if you'd like to explore other photographers whom you may not have heard of from this series I'm going to link to them over here thanks for watching see you again soon