Photo north festival promises something new for the professional photographer, art-enthusiast, keen amateur and students. Located in Harrogate convention centre, the festival is a celebration of Photography ad brings together a sensational display of exhibitions, talks, workshops and walk throughs from highly respected and emerging artists. I initially went into the festival with a closed mind as i assumed no work would inspire me, and nothing would speak to me but there is such a vast array of work presented here and there is truly something for everyone no matter the style you specify in. Granted not everything was for me, but there was work i immediately got, and understood, whilst at the convention i began to get familiar with the work of Homer Sykes; a Canadian-British born documentary photographer, who captured the life and energy of the Blitz club in London during the emergence of the new romantic scene.
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Whilst walking around the convention i come across a pop up stand selling the work of Terry O'Neill, I'm not new to his work but i had no idea as to the extent of his work, i got looking through every book at the stand in awe. He definitely has an immediately recognizable style of photography which is one of the many reasons i'm fond of his work. Being heavily candid, his images still offer this exclusive feel of being quite contemporary and inventive. I without a doubt think that O'Neill is where i got the original interest in shooting a breed of contemporary styling candid shooting, his intentional use of contact sheet negatives and their effect are so apparent when looking through his work, it demonstrates a deconstructed and raw reception, one common through his work. Terry O'Neill was definitely one of the photographers that stood out to me the most when compared other work featured at the convention just because of its influence of not only the people he's photographed but the range and time span he has photographed over. Seamlessly managing to capture a persons intensity and spirit through an image, O'Neill shot the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, and David Bowie over his career perfecting his style of photography.
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