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Peter Dench
Dench Does Dallas + The British Abroad (BOTM)
Original price was: £40.00.£24.00Current price is: £24.00.
For the whole month of February get DENCH DOES DALLAS and The British Abroad as our Book of the Month for only £24 in total. Simply add this to your basket and receive both books at the discounted price.
In stock
Description
DENCH DOES DALLAS:
Back in 1951, renowned Picture Post photographer Bert Hardy stated that it didn’t matter what camera you had, it was the person behind the lens that mattered not how flashy the gear was. Challenged by his editor to prove it, Bert was stripped of his beloved Leica and sent off to Blackpool with the amateur’s favourite, a Kodak Box Brownie. After an initial struggle, Hardy found two showgirls, sat them on some railings and took probably his most famous image.
Roll on over 60 years and Peter Dench was commissioned by Olympus to photograph one of America’s most iconic cities armed only with their latest compact camera, the OM-D E-M5 Mark II. For a cameraman used to lugging a heavy DSLR on assignments, this was a daunting challenge; not only to be thrust into an unknown city but with a piece of technology he had no experience of.
He needn’t have worried. In his own words: “It made me a better photographer. I was inspired to explore more intensely; I paid greater attention to the movement of light and tightened up my compositions. The lightweight camera and accessories saved me energy in sweltering conditions and its performance gave me the confidence to discard the flash in many low light situations. I was excited to point the camera at people and people wanted the camera pointed at them.”
This book shows what was achieved in two weeks. The images are punchy, sharp and full of live, as one would expect from Dench. Bert Hardy abandoned his Box Brownie after Blackpool. Pete is not so hasty, he is now an Olympus compact convert.
THE BRITISH ABROAD
The British have travelled to foreign lands for many centuries. They’ve gone abroad for trade, for science and, most of all, for conquest. Some historians believe the only countries never to have been invaded by the British are Uruguay and Laos. Thriller writer Tom Knox once wrote: “If only they’d stayed sober, given the chance the British would probably have invaded the moon.”
These days the British are less militaristic, but still just as keen on abroad. So why do Brits like to be elsewhere? Is it the get-me-outta-here British winter? Is it the waters that surround our island, enabling exploration and reminding us that adventure awaits? Perhaps it is the irresistible proximity of cheaper countries with superior ice cream? Whatever the answer, the urge felt by British youth to escape has never been documented better than here, in Peter Dench’s piercing, comedic, acute and heroically revealing photo-portrait of one nation, slowly turning pink under a foreign sun.
Additional information
Weight | 4 kg |
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Dimensions | 29 × 27 × 2.5 cm |