David Bailey, one of the premier photographers of his generation, started as an assistant and quickly worked his way to being one of the pre-eminent photographers, along with Terence Donovan, Brian Duffy and Terry O’Neill, who defined the ‘Swinging Sixties’. “Bailey was different from all the rest of us,” remembers O’Neill. “He rose to the top of the profession incredibly quickly and not only captured indelible images of the celebrities of the time—Mick Jagger, Terence Stamp, Jean Shrimpton—but also of the infamous, like the Kray twins. Bailey, himself, became a celebrity. David Hemmings’ character in Antonioni’s film Blow-Up , is based on Bailey. He [Bailey] was charming and—as you can see by this photo—a good-looking bloke. “I really love this photo. I haven’t seen these contact sheets in a long time. Just look at how at ease he is. When you think of the men of the sixties—the style, the fashion, just the whole attitude—Bailey was at the centre of it.”
See our whole David Bailey archive featuring photography from Terry O’Neill and John Swannell : https://iconicimages.net/archive/tag/david-bailey/