The Smiths and friends - free photo exhibition
Posted by: sjw on 16 October 2016
There's a free photo exhibition of my images of the Smiths and other iconic musicians in Maidenhead to which all are welcome!
Tuesday 25 October - 2016 Sat 12 November
https://norden.farm/events/ste...e-smiths-and-friends
A returning exhibition at Norden Farm will bring together the work of Caversham based photographer, Stephen Wright – famed for capturing ‘One of the most famous photos in pop’ (Tim Jonze, The Guardian).
His shot of The Smiths outside the Salford Lads Club - for the band’s The Queen is Dead album –was released 30 years ago. Today the image is part of the collections of the National Portrait gallery, the Manchester Art gallery and The Salford Art gallery
Commenting on the famous shot, Stephen Wright said: “That photo of The Smiths was taken on a murky and cold Salford day in 1985. They were at the peak of their success and I’m so proud that the image has become recognisable worldwide. It’s funny really – I remember developing the shot in a makeshift darkroom in my bedroom – using chemicals that I kept in old fizzy drinks bottles.”
Strangely one image shot on a dark day symbolises an era and this and other images have been widely used in magazines and books since.
In 2015 a photograph of The Smiths taken by Stephen and donated to Salford Lads Club for a year to use on a charity T-shirt raised £60,000 and funded a trip for teenagers from the Club to visit Native Indians in South Dakota
Chief Executive and Artistic Director - Jane Corry said ‘
"The Smiths were the soundtrack to my teenage years and had more worth than any living thing on earth! To have Stephen’s work here is an a absolute joy and I can’t wait to hear some of the stories behind the shoot at the Vinyl Frontier Special on Sunday 6 November’
Stephen began his career as a live music photographer. He has photographed some of the biggest names in the industry, including: Madonna, Prince, Miles Davis, Nina Simone and James Brown. His images capture iconic musicians at their peak and whilst sadly several of these musicians are no longer with us their music lives on.