Anybody that read my recent post on The Contact print: a window into the mind of the photographer, or my earlier thoughts on The Magnum Mark exhibition held at the Magnum Print Room in early 2011, will be very aware of my interest in the photographic archive and its role in informing our understanding of photographic history. So when photographer Chris King, brought to my attention the website of Howard Grey — the work of whom he became aware of whilst researching a new body of work — I was fascinated.

Grey is fourth generation photographer who learnt his craft from his father, Alf Grey — a seaside holiday photographer — and embarked on his career as an advertising photographer in London in the heady days of the sixties; opening his own studio in upmarket Knightsbridge (where he still lives), after leaving art school, and were he worked on numerous campaigns for such clients as Japan Airlines, Hitachi, NatWest and British Telecom.

Above Self-portrait, 1971. (©Howard Grey/Courtesy of the photographer).

Working with graphic designer and archivist Luke Thompson, Grey — who now dedicates his time to personal projects — presents his work not as a portfolio so typical of photographers websites, but as a multi-layered visual archive. So far, 10,000 of Grey’s images produced over a fifty year career have been scanned and archive on the website. These include Polaroids, which frequently include annotations such as ‘CARNIVAL. SHOOT FOR VODKA. N.W. LONDON;’ contact prints; tear sheets; scamps that reveal Grey’s initial conceptual process, along with notes on art direction, recces, and model choices; and other items from his extensive archive such as address books and diaries, all of which build to inform our understanding. Clicking on an image will reveal an expanded edit of images, and brief notes about the images; through which we achieve greater understanding of Grey’s work and his creative practice.

Above Scamps and pre0shoot material for Glaxo Pharmaceuticals, 1991. (©Howard Grey/Courtesy of the photographer).

As we explore the archive, images and stories begin to emerge, each vying for the viewers attention. A tear sheet from a magazine grabs my attention. It shows a black and white studio portrait of a young girl looking directly into Grey’s lens, as I study the image which was made in January 1964, a sense of familiarity begins to take hold. Above the portrait a headline reads ‘Raving Report: looks at one of today’s most famous faces,’ offering a clue to who the subject maybe. The photograph was made a few weeks after the young girl was first noticed by a friend of Grey’s brushing the floor of a hair salon in Bayswater. ‘She came in [to the studio] and she was 15 or something, [we] did lots of pictures,’ says Grey, ‘I called her in July and spoke to her Dad, he said “Lesley doesn't live here anymore, she's gone off with a model promoter Justin de Villeneuve.”’ Her full name was Lesley Hornby, later known around the world simply as Twiggy, one of the most successful models of all time.

Above Pat Farrow, 1967. (©Howard Grey/Courtesy of the photographer).

‘I'd never seen a naked pregnant women before I wanted to take her photograph,’ notes Grey alongside a series of sensitive and intimate studies of Pat Farrow, made in 1967. Whilst Another series of  images made in 1963 were discovered and initially scanned for their aesthetic value, remarks Thompson, however it later emerged that the man pictured was the Stephen Hawking. ‘A quick web search couldn't find any images of the eminent physicist in his youth and so we think we have something unique. This was an exciting discovery and the kind of find which makes the archiving process so rewarding.’

Above Portrait of painter and Bloomsbury group member, Duncan Grant, 1977. (©Howard Grey/Courtesy of the photographer).

Adding to the sense of understanding, there are a lot of production shots in the archive, which Thompson says ‘contribute to the story of Howard's career and also provide a historically interesting documentary on the industry of advertising and photography in the 60s and beyond.’ 

Whilst many archives remain largely private, accessible to only the lucky few, Grey places his within the public realm, encouraging viewers to explore his expansive and varied body of work, making their own discoveries.

howardgrey.com

With thanks to Chris King.