Recently I headed back home to England for bit of a break and was having a catch up with my Dad and chatting about advertising. When he was my age in the 70’s he was a pretty famous fashion and advertising photographer so he took out some of his old work to show me.
As the ads are pretty classic I thought I would share some with you. I have included work from IBM, Speedo, Craven cigarettes, and Olympia. I really think my Dad was the original Austin Powers, his first car was a convertible Jaguar E-Type, he travelled the world with celebs and models, and to top it off he is an incredible gentleman. Below are some photos I took of the ads, click on them to zoom in. Enjoy.
Nice. Indeed radness runs in the family!
I assisted your Dad shooting fashion for Grattan at a great studio in Arizona back in 1982. The name of the studio was Woburn Studios USA. I assisted many Britt shooters there and learned a lot from all of them . You Dad was the most fun to work with though and he knew how to make the models work or work with the models I should say.
Thanks Jeff. Always great to hear funny stories about Dad, will pass on the message to him, he always tells me fun stories from Woburn Studios. You will be glad to hear he is still an insatiable charmer 🙂
Chris
I think you dad was more like a mix between A.Powel and Mr Bean. I remember him runing after a gray parrot that he uncaged, barely managed to grab it from the legs as it tried to fly away, it looked as if he was being pulled/towed by the parrot…very very hilarious inteed. BTW he tought me how to pronounce “dove” properly. I sprayed Backdrops at that Studio in the Canary Islands were he was shooting for Grattan
I just read the comment from Michael, posted on September 27th and I remember that too, I was there as Tony raced around with the parrot. What actually happened was that Tony was trying to be kind because the parrot’s wings were clipped and it could not fly, so he ran around with it so that it got the feeling of flight, it was too funny for words. I also remember Tony allowing a wasp to drink water from his cupped hand on that trip, I was transfixed, he is such a nice guy that every living creature just loves and trusts him xx. I was Tony’s assistant for years, not sure if you remember me Michael.
Hi Chris,
Your dad took some photos for my portfolio in Australia. I was a student then at Sydney University .This began my photographic & acting career.In the 80’s I was a singer in an industrial rock band in London “SPK” .
Say hello to your dad if he remembers me.
He was an incredibly entertaining raconteur,telling stories in that
inimitable,cultured way . Cheers,Sinan.
Ask him to tell you the story of the “long distance camel”… that was a good one now that I remember haha. Good one tony. And Caroline, the parrot’s name was Na Du, wich in german means “How are you”. Joachim’s idea was that eventualy the parrot would repeat his name to every one passing by… of course you had to be German to understand what the parrot was asking you… a german parrot? BTW, he never ever repeated his name.
Oh blimey yes I remember now, Na Du hahaha. I don’t remember the camel story? I am sure it is an amazing story as all Tony’s stories were. :o) Cheers Caroline
chris…..
I knew your dad and mum during his Chicago year when he came to photograph catalogs. we lost touch when they returned to England. You were even in my apartment, when I believe you were 5 or 6.
My husband and I are flying thru London on our way back to the States in early January. If they are still close by, we’d love to see them again.
We are currently in Rome. Let them know I’d like to see them if possible.
Janet Garrott
Hello Chris,
I used to assist your father – Tony as I knew him, when we both worked for Woburn Studios. It would be the earlyish 80’s. I spent a month with him in the Algarve. I remember him being just enormous fun, with a lovely sense of humour. I only worked for him for about a year – and sadly Woburn wasn’t that busy – it went into receivership and we were all made redundant. But that trip to the Algarve in particular I look on with very fond memories. If he can remember me (it was just a year), please pass on my best regards – a true ‘gent’. Marco Williams
Hi Marco,
So wonderful to hear from you.
Dad is well, happy and living in Norfolk, will pass on your regards and show him the message.
Have a wonderful year and all the very best,
Chris
hi chris,
i had been assisting tony at Slatyer&Rawlinson in sydney in 1971 for about a year..,
we had a good time and i still have some shots from this time – tony with fashion-models…
if you like – i could send it to you
cheers – old manfred
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Hello Manfred,
How great to read the above comments from people who worked with Tony, my Dad.
Please could you send me your photo’s of Tony that you mention above? I am Tony’s son Rupert and I was born in 1970 in Sydney, so just a year before you worked together. I’d love to see the photo’s if you still have them. My email address is rupert.raw@virgin.net
Dad is well. We visited him last week in Norfolk, England. He still has many many tales to tell! I’ll pass on your best.
Cheers,
Rupert
Rupert,
I also assisted Tony while he was at Woburn. Two stories that come to mind. We did a photoshoot in Norfolk staying in his brother’s house ( I believe it was in Melton Constable). We returned to London on the train enjoying either breakfast on lunch. Upon arriving in London Tony decided we had spent too much money on the food and that we should take the tube back to the studio with all the equipment rather than take a taxi.
The other story was going down to Marbella in Spain. There were three photographers and their assistants in three vans. The vans contained all the equipment and the clothes to be photographed.
We knew we had to get to the border crossing from France into Spain by a certain time as the border had a closing time. We had to show the customs officials separate carnege to take everything across the border. The first two vans crossed with no problems. Tony was in the third van and showed the customs official a letter he got from the Spanish embassy in London. Seeing this official looking letter the official called the other two vans back and impounded all of the vans for a few days while they did a through check of everything.
Bill.