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| {{Short description|British photographer}} | |||
| {{linkrot|date=June 2012}} | |||
| {{ |
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}} | ||
| {{ |
{{refimprove|date=November 2015}} | ||
| {{EngvarB|date=September 2014}} | |||
| {{Infobox person | {{Infobox person | ||
| | image = |
| image = | ||
| | birth_name = |
| birth_name = | ||
| | birth_date = {{Birth date |
| birth_date = {{Birth date |df=yes|1936|2|16}} | ||
| | birth_place = London | | birth_place = London, England | ||
| | death_date={{death date and age|df=y|2015|11|16|1936|2|16}} | |||
| | residence = ] | |||
| | death_place= | |||
| | nationality = British | | nationality = British | ||
| | occupation = Photographer | | occupation = Photographer | ||
| | years_active = |
| years_active = 1953–2015 | ||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''David Steen''' ( |
'''David Steen''' (16 February 1936 – 16 November 2015) was a British photographer. His subjects included ] and ], and ]s. | ||
| == |
==Life and work== | ||
| Steen was born in London, one of two children (his sister Sheila was born in 1932). Much of his childhood was spent in the air-raid shelters of London and, also as a result of dyslexia, he was poorly schooled. | |||
| Steen recalls the beginning of his career: | |||
| His father Edward (Ted) was a meat porter in Smithfield meat market, getting on his bike and leaving home at 4am. His mother Mary was a seamstress who worked during the War for the post office. The family lived in a council flat in Clerkenwell, ten minutes from ]. Most of his friends took jobs in the print rooms as it was the nearest industry. Steen says, “Clerkenwell is an old part of London with great character and full of great characters. I love it and still do.” | |||
| ⚫ | <blockquote>One day a woman called Paddy Brosnan went to Smithfields to buy some meat. My dad asked Paddy if there was a job for me. She was the secretary to Tom Hopkinson, the editor of ''Picture Post''. She said I could work for her as an office boy. On 1 April 1951, at the age of 15, I started work.<ref name="col">{{cite web|url=http://www.collectorsprints.co.uk/artist_page.php?artist=David+Steen |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420014334/http://www.collectorsprints.co.uk/artist_page.php?artist=David+Steen |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 April 2013 |title=David Steen Prints |publisher=Collectorsprints.co.uk |date= |accessdate=6 June 2012 }}</ref> ''Picture Post'' carried staff writers and about eight staff photographers. I walked around the office delivering post and doing odd errands for the staff. One day I was in the photographers' rest room, where they had their lockers, when the picture editor Harry Deverson, came in. He said to one photographer, 'Come and talk to me about a job in Switzerland,' and to another photographer, 'Talk to me about a job in Tokyo'. I had rarely left Clerkenwell, certainly never been abroad. My ears started buzzing, and it was at that precise moment I decided that this photography game was for me. I soon started assisting the photographers.<ref name="heroes">Heroes+Villains (], 2005)</ref></blockquote> | ||
| ==Early career== | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| One of those photographers, ], took Steen under his wing. Hardy taught him not just about taking photos but also the importance of punctuality, being smart, wearing clean shoes and, above all, the love of the job. Between the ages of 15 and 18, when |
One of those photographers, ], took Steen under his wing. Hardy taught him not just about taking photos but also the importance of punctuality, being smart, wearing clean shoes and, above all, the love of the job. Between the ages of 15 and 18, when Steen's friends were going out to pubs and parties, he was out and about, with a borrowed camera taking pictures around London by day and by night. | ||
| On sunny days mothers would leave their babies in prams outside their homes and, to earn extra money, Steen would borrow a camera, photograph the babies, and have the pictures printed at a chemist shop. He would pay a shilling a print and then knock at the door of the mother and sell her a photo of her baby for two shillings. | On sunny days mothers would leave their babies in prams outside their homes and, to earn extra money, Steen would borrow a camera, photograph the babies, and have the pictures printed at a chemist shop. He would pay a shilling a print and then knock at the door of the mother and sell her a photo of her baby for two shillings. | ||
| At the age of 17, he was doing small assignments, and at 18 he undertook his first foreign assignment, travelling to Paris to photograph ]. "I stayed at the Georges VI hotel, dined at |
At the age of 17, he was doing small assignments, and at 18 he undertook his first foreign assignment, travelling to Paris to photograph the film director ]. "I stayed at the Georges VI hotel, dined at Maxim's, and went to the Crazy Horse nightclub. This was the beginning of a great adventure that would last for decades." | ||
| In June 1954, |
In June 1954, Steen began his National Service, spending the first few months in Germany as an Army photographer. He was then despatched to Egypt where he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. "My mum and dad were very proud." From his base in Ismialia, Egypt, he was sent by the War Office to cover many stories in the Middle East; Cyprus, Libya, Aden and Somalia. By the time he was demobbed (in June 1956) Steen had accomplished an immense amount of travel and photography. | ||
| He returned to ''Picture Post'', but a year later the magazine ceased publication |
He returned to '']'', but a year later the magazine ceased publication. Soon afterwards, he was offered a job as a photographer on Britain's first newspaper for women, ''Women's Sunday Mirror''. The publication was founded by ], who gave Steen an assignment to photograph a woman delivering her own baby under hypnosis. | ||
| <blockquote>The pictures were amazing; the mother and her husband and me with a Rolleiflex in a small bedroom in north London. I entered a sequence of nine photos in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica Press Photographs of the Year Awards''. I won first prize. I was 21, the youngest photographer to win.<ref name="col" /></blockquote> | |||
| ==The 60s== | |||
| He joined the ''Daily Mail'' as a feature photographer for one year before moving to ''Queen'' magazine, where he took more the sort of the photography he enjoyed: three or four pages to a story. "I needed to get out on my own, so I started to freelance for ''The Sunday Times'' colour magazine, the ''Telegraph'' magazine, ''Observer'' and foreign titles like '']'', '']'', ''Epoca'' and ''People''. I was then getting big assignments around the world. The 60s were extraordinarily exciting." Trained on the maxim "every picture tells a story" he focused on film stars, actors, criminals, politicians, prime ministers and countless men, women and children going about their everyday lives. | |||
| He joined the '']'' as a feature photographer during 1959–1960 before going freelance.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ponsford|first=Dominic|url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/fleet-street-photography-great-david-steen-dies-aged-79|title=Fleet Street photography great David Steen dies aged 79|work=Press Gazette|date=24 November 2015|accessdate=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="Debrett's">{{cite web|url=http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/79313/David-STEEN |title=David Steen |work=Debrett's |accessdate=24 November 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315132936/http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/79313/David-STEEN |archivedate=15 March 2016 |df=dmy }}</ref> He began to work for '']'' magazine in 1962, and soon afterwards such publications as '']'', '']'' and '']''.<ref name="Debrett's"/> | |||
| ==Photographs of The Famous== | |||
| Steen’s other subjects include: ], ], ], ] and ], the Rolling Stones, ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], Pete Townshend, ], ], James Coburn, ], Somerset Maugham, ], ], ], ], ], ], Bill Wyman, ],],], ], ], ] and IAL Diamond, El Cordobes, ], ], ], ], ], Bobby Moore, ], Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, ], Sir Ralph Richardson, Tom Stoppard, President Tito, ].<ref>http://www.davidsteen.co.uk</ref> | |||
| ], ]<ref>{{cite web|author=Art Photography |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/6214641/Twiggy-interview-for-Twiggy-A-Life-in-Photographs-at-the-NPG.html |title=Twiggy interview for Twiggy: A Life in Photographs at the NPG |publisher=Telegraph |date= |accessdate=2012-06-06}}</ref> , ], ], ], ], ], ].<ref>http://www.davidsteen.co.uk</ref> | |||
| Steen's website biography describes him as having been "trained on the maxim 'every picture tells a story'".<ref name="Telegraph241115">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12014422/David-Steen-photographer-obituary.html|title=David Steen, photographer - obituary|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=24 November 2015|accessdate=24 November 2015}}</ref> He focused on photographing film stars, actors, criminals, politicians, prime ministers and many men, women and children going about their everyday lives. | |||
| ==''Heroes and Villains''== | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | His book, ''Heroes and Villains'' (], 2005),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genesis-publications.com/browse/photographer/david-steen |title=Browse Books: Photographer – David Steen |publisher=] |date= |accessdate=6 June 2012}}</ref> contains 100 photographs of famous and infamous men who were photographed by Steen over the years and was also the subject of an exhibition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.photography-now.com/artists/k09775.html |title=David Steen – Exhibitions |publisher=Photography-now.com |date= |accessdate=6 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genesis-publications.com/News/News-Archive/News-Archive-2004/The-Daily-Telegraph-Devotes-Nearly-Half-A-Page-To-Genesis-Exhibition/1005 |title=News Archive 2004 – The Daily Telegraph Devotes Nearly Half A Page To Genesis Exhibition – 10 May 2004 |publisher=] |date=10 May 2004 |accessdate=6 June 2012}}</ref> ] wrote for '']'' about the book: | ||
| ==Book== | |||
| ⚫ | ''Heroes+Villains'' |
||
| <blockquote>This isn't a pantheon of heroes, but it is a celebration of manly beauty that you don't need to be a beauty to make a beautiful picture. But it is also, to anyone who was alive in Britain in 1963, intensely evocative of that lost world. Steen is a pro – technically accomplished and unpretentious. There aren't really any heroes in this book: Steen is palpably too perceptive and level-headed for hero-worship. But there are 100 fine photographs, intensely redolent of the period that produced them, and still looking good some 40 years on.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hughes-Hallett |first=Lucy |url=http://new.spectator.co.uk/2005/06/when-men-were-blokes/ |title=When men were blokes |work=The Spectator |date=4 June 2005 |accessdate=24 November 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124233615/http://new.spectator.co.uk/2005/06/when-men-were-blokes/ |archivedate=24 November 2015 |df=dmy }}</ref></blockquote> | |||
| Steen was the father of the author and journalist ]. David Steen died on 16 November 2015, aged 79.<ref name="Telegraph241115"/> | |||
| ==Publications== | |||
| ===Publications by Stein=== | |||
| ⚫ | * ''Heroes + Villains''. Guildford, England: ], 2005. {{ISBN|978-0904351934}}. | ||
| ===Publications with others=== | |||
| *''"Rolling Stones": Street Fighting Years'' | |||
| *''Twiggy: A Life in Photographs'' | |||
| *''Sensual Beauty'' | |||
| *''The 60s in Queen'' | |||
| *''For God's Sake Care'' | |||
| *''Ronnie Biggs: Odd Man Out – The Last Straw'' | |||
| *''Mandy'' | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| Line 51: | Line 64: | ||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| * {{Official website| |
* {{Official website|www.davidsteen.co.uk}} | ||
| * {{IMDb name|1034812}} | * {{IMDb name|1034812}} | ||
| {{Authority control}} | |||
| {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. --> | |||
| | NAME = Steen, David | |||
| | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | |||
| | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Photographer | |||
| | DATE OF BIRTH = 16 February 1936 | |||
| | PLACE OF BIRTH = London, London | |||
| | DATE OF DEATH = | |||
| | PLACE OF DEATH = | |||
| }} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Steen, David}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Steen, David}} | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
Latest revision as of 01:59, 27 September 2024
British photographer
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "David Steen" photographer – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| David Steen | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1936-02-16)16 February 1936 London, England |
| Died | 16 November 2015(2015-11-16) (aged 79) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Years active | 1953–2015 |
David Steen (16 February 1936 – 16 November 2015) was a British photographer. His subjects included show business and sports stars, and politicians.
Life and work
Steen was born in London, one of two children (his sister Sheila was born in 1932). Much of his childhood was spent in the air-raid shelters of London and, also as a result of dyslexia, he was poorly schooled.
Steen recalls the beginning of his career:
One day a woman called Paddy Brosnan went to Smithfields to buy some meat. My dad asked Paddy if there was a job for me. She was the secretary to Tom Hopkinson, the editor of Picture Post. She said I could work for her as an office boy. On 1 April 1951, at the age of 15, I started work. Picture Post carried staff writers and about eight staff photographers. I walked around the office delivering post and doing odd errands for the staff. One day I was in the photographers' rest room, where they had their lockers, when the picture editor Harry Deverson, came in. He said to one photographer, 'Come and talk to me about a job in Switzerland,' and to another photographer, 'Talk to me about a job in Tokyo'. I had rarely left Clerkenwell, certainly never been abroad. My ears started buzzing, and it was at that precise moment I decided that this photography game was for me. I soon started assisting the photographers.
One of those photographers, Bert Hardy, took Steen under his wing. Hardy taught him not just about taking photos but also the importance of punctuality, being smart, wearing clean shoes and, above all, the love of the job. Between the ages of 15 and 18, when Steen's friends were going out to pubs and parties, he was out and about, with a borrowed camera taking pictures around London by day and by night.
On sunny days mothers would leave their babies in prams outside their homes and, to earn extra money, Steen would borrow a camera, photograph the babies, and have the pictures printed at a chemist shop. He would pay a shilling a print and then knock at the door of the mother and sell her a photo of her baby for two shillings.
At the age of 17, he was doing small assignments, and at 18 he undertook his first foreign assignment, travelling to Paris to photograph the film director Otto Preminger. "I stayed at the Georges VI hotel, dined at Maxim's, and went to the Crazy Horse nightclub. This was the beginning of a great adventure that would last for decades."
In June 1954, Steen began his National Service, spending the first few months in Germany as an Army photographer. He was then despatched to Egypt where he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. "My mum and dad were very proud." From his base in Ismialia, Egypt, he was sent by the War Office to cover many stories in the Middle East; Cyprus, Libya, Aden and Somalia. By the time he was demobbed (in June 1956) Steen had accomplished an immense amount of travel and photography.
He returned to Picture Post, but a year later the magazine ceased publication. Soon afterwards, he was offered a job as a photographer on Britain's first newspaper for women, Women's Sunday Mirror. The publication was founded by Hugh Cudlipp, who gave Steen an assignment to photograph a woman delivering her own baby under hypnosis.
The pictures were amazing; the mother and her husband and me with a Rolleiflex in a small bedroom in north London. I entered a sequence of nine photos in the Encyclopædia Britannica Press Photographs of the Year Awards. I won first prize. I was 21, the youngest photographer to win.
He joined the Daily Mail as a feature photographer during 1959–1960 before going freelance. He began to work for Queen magazine in 1962, and soon afterwards such publications as The Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Nova.
Steen's website biography describes him as having been "trained on the maxim 'every picture tells a story'". He focused on photographing film stars, actors, criminals, politicians, prime ministers and many men, women and children going about their everyday lives.
His book, Heroes and Villains (Genesis Publications, 2005), contains 100 photographs of famous and infamous men who were photographed by Steen over the years and was also the subject of an exhibition. Lucy Hughes-Hallett wrote for The Spectator about the book:
This isn't a pantheon of heroes, but it is a celebration of manly beauty that you don't need to be a beauty to make a beautiful picture. But it is also, to anyone who was alive in Britain in 1963, intensely evocative of that lost world. Steen is a pro – technically accomplished and unpretentious. There aren't really any heroes in this book: Steen is palpably too perceptive and level-headed for hero-worship. But there are 100 fine photographs, intensely redolent of the period that produced them, and still looking good some 40 years on.
Steen was the father of the author and journalist James Steen. David Steen died on 16 November 2015, aged 79.
Publications
Publications by Stein
- Heroes + Villains. Guildford, England: Genesis Publications, 2005. ISBN 978-0904351934.
Publications with others
- "Rolling Stones": Street Fighting Years
- Twiggy: A Life in Photographs
- Sensual Beauty
- The 60s in Queen
- For God's Sake Care
- Ronnie Biggs: Odd Man Out – The Last Straw
- Mandy
References
- ^ "David Steen Prints". Collectorsprints.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- Heroes+Villains (Genesis Publications, 2005)
- Ponsford, Dominic (24 November 2015). "Fleet Street photography great David Steen dies aged 79". Press Gazette. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- ^ "David Steen". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- ^ "David Steen, photographer - obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- "Browse Books: Photographer – David Steen". Genesis Publications. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- "David Steen – Exhibitions". Photography-now.com. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- "News Archive 2004 – The Daily Telegraph Devotes Nearly Half A Page To Genesis Exhibition – 10 May 2004". Genesis Publications. 10 May 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- Hughes-Hallett, Lucy (4 June 2005). "When men were blokes". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.