2025 - November and December - page 36
Image details
| Issue number | 404 |
|---|---|
| ISSN | 2632-7171 |
| Publication date | 1st November 2025 |
| Transcription |
magazine Community News The Camera Eye’s Archive © Ryan Gattaora Conservation at Camera Eye Working as an archivist at Camera Eye, David Bailey’s studio, has been a remarkable journey through history, photography and culture. Founded in the early 1970s, Camera Eye was Bailey’s creative base at a time when British photography was shifting from straight cut fashion to something more personal, raw and immediate. The studio became both a laboratory and a sanctuary, a place where iconic portraits of musicians, actors and artists were made alongside experimental shoots and film projects. Bailey’s photographs reshaped how Britain saw itself: the glamour of the sixties distilled through personality and attitude, the intimacy of his portraits, the spontaneity, merged into something unmistakably his own. Inside the archive, that legacy drums quietly through contact sheets, negatives, canvas and prints. Immersed in the spirit of Bailey’s vision and world, I’ve had the privilege of preserving and safeguarding his materials, while ensuring his work remains accessible and alive today. An ongoing project has centred on the film negatives housed within the studio, including testing and monitoring their condition, with a particular focus on identifying early signs of decomposition. Film and sound archival techniques remain a niche within the profession, with only a handful of places offering Tucked within Camera Eye’s archive, a small corner that once saw legends pass through now houses them forever. © Fenton Bailey 36 |