Dennis Morris's Professional Portfolio

United Kingdom

Dennis Morris is not only well known for his work with Bob Marley and also The Sex Pistols, but is also renowned for other iconic images such as his shots of Marianne Faithfull - seen as an important contributor to the success of her career re-launch.

During his time working with PiL (Public Image Limited), not only did Morris design the logo, but also worked on the first and highly influential album Metal Box.

Morris's work played a major part in the success of the Virgin Front Line Reggae label. He is also influential as a reportage photographer using the OM SLR range of cameras and has a unique view on life as he comments:
Everyone looks," says Morris, "but only a few actually see.

Throughout May he will have an exhibition at InsideSpace London titled "This Happy Breed" . "The images are a great insight into my youth and the influences that shaped my photography," comments Dennis Morris.

Morris found himself hiding behind the camera to gain confidence. During this time he captured images to show life as it really was; a typical school holiday at the seaside in Ilfracombe or Bobby Charlton parading the FA Cup.

In Morris's eyes the people and events captured are the last of a Happy Breed - aptly titled from the play of the same name by Noel Coward. Many of his subjects had lived through both world wars, but still had that 'knees up mother brown' spirit.

Morris comments: "In those days, you could leave your child outside, a cut and shave was less than a fiver and picking up a pony at a horse market in west London wasn't unusual."

ePHOTOzine caught up with Dennis prior to the exhibition:

ePHOTOzine: How did you get into photography?
Dennis Morris: I was a choir boy in St Marks Church Choir, Hackney from the age of nine, they had a photo club that was run by Donald Paterson of Paterson photographic. So I started attending and the rest as they say is history.

EPZ: When you were growing up did you always want to be a photographer?
DM: Yes - it's as simple as that, from the moment I saw my first print being developed in the darkroom I was hooked. It was magical.

EPZ: Who inspired you when you were starting out as a photographer?
DM: Donald. He encouraged and guided me through the early years by giving me guidance, the chance to borrow a camera and magazines like Creative Camera, AP and BJP. Unfortunately ePhotozine wasn't around then!

EPZ: What did your family have to say about this?
DM: They didn't like it. Like most parents they wanted me to be a doctor or a accountant, after all it photography wasn't really a profession at the time, and let alone a profession for a young black person in the east end of London.

EPZ: What was your first camera?
DM: A Petri.

EPZ: What kit is always in your bag?
DM: 2x Olympus OM3Ti, 1x 50mm lens, 1x 28mm lens, 1 200mm lens and a C-5050 digital camera.

EPZ: What is your most memorable picture you've taken?
DM: That's a tough question, there are too many to choose from - probably most memorable artists that I've captured are Bob Marley, The Sex Pistols and Marrianne Faithfull.

EPZ: What was your first big break?
DM: Bob Marley concert - met him at an early age at the first gig he did in England and he invited me to take some pictures of him on the tour. Nothing really happened with the pictures there and then, but a couple of years later, everybody suddenly wanted the pictures and my career just went from there.

EPZ: You worked with the Sex Pistols - what was that like?
DM: Manic. A bit like being in a war zone. It was chaotic, shambolic and crazy all at the same time. But it helped me create a style that I still use today. My influence of reportage photography was perfect for the situation.

EPZ: Who would you most like to photograph?
DM: Sting.

EPZ: What advice would you give someone wanting to become a professional photographer today?
DM: Just do it. You've got to get out there and take photos. If you have the eye it will come naturally and you'll know by the interest shown in your work.

EPZ: Have you ever doubted your decision to be a photographer?
DM: No - never.

EZP: Do you do much work in the dark room or do you leave your prints mostly unedited?
DM: I don't have a darkroom anymore. When I did, I never cropped my images as I did all my cropping through my view finder. I now get everything printed for me at TapestryMM in Fitfh Street and Bayuex in Newman Street.

EPZ: Where do you get your influences from?
DM: Life and people around me. I'm not really influenced by other photographers. I take it all from my surroundings. When I started out though I was influenced by photographers like Bailey, who's control of the reportage within his field is amazing, Don McMullan, Richard Avingdon and Gordon Parks.

EPZ: What are you working on at the moment?
DM: A shoot for The Royal Festival hall on reggae artist Scratch Lee Perry. It's for The Meltdown Music programme.

EPZ: What is your favourite picture from your latest exhibition "This happy Breed"?
DM: A photo entitled Queenie. It's of a women winking in a social club at me. It really symbolises the era.

EPZ: Are there any moments you've witnessed that you wish you'd captured?
DM: No. If I do miss a moment and I don't have a camera I photograph it in my mind and wait it for it happen again, as it inevitably does. When it happens the next time, I normally have a camera to hand and if I don't, the circle goes around again.

EPZ: What is your attitude towards digital photography?
DM: Love the potential, and eagerly waiting for Olympus' D-SLR with interchangeable lens in the autumn.

Dennis Morris' "This Happy Breed" photographic exhibition, in association with Olympus, launches on the 28th April with a month long exhibition from 29th April - 30th May. The exhibition is showing at InsideSpace, 14-18 Great Titchfield Street, W1. Morris's vibrant photographs capture his life as a child in the East End in the sixties and seventies.

Dennis Morris's Images

 

 

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