David Bailey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids David Bailey CBE
Bailey in 2012
Born	David Royston Bailey (1938-01-02) 2 January 1938 (age 87) Leytonstone, Essex, England
Occupation	Photographer
Years active	1959–present
Notable work	Box of Pin-ups (1964); Goodbye Baby & Amen: a Saraband for the Sixties (1969); Another Image: Papua New Guinea (1975), David Bailey: Birth of the Cool, 1957-1969 (1999)
Spouse(s)	Rosemary Bramble ​ ​ (m. 1960; separated 1964)​ Catherine Deneuve ​ ​ (m. 1965; separated 1972)​ Marie Helvin ​ ​ (m. 1975; separated 1985)​ Catherine Dyer ​ ​ (m. 1986)​
Children	3

David Royston Bailey (born 2 January 1938) is a famous English photographer and director. He is best known for his amazing fashion photos and portraits. He played a big part in creating the look of the "Swinging Sixties" in London. Bailey has also directed many TV commercials and documentaries.

Early Life and Photography Beginnings

David Bailey was born in Leytonstone, England. His father was a tailor, and his mother was a machinist. From the age of three, he lived in East Ham.

How David Bailey Started Photography

David loved nature, which led him to photography. School was hard for him because he had dyslexia, a learning difficulty that affects reading. He also has dyspraxia, which affects motor skills.

He left school when he was 15 years old. After a few small jobs, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1956. While serving in Singapore, he bought his first camera, a Rolleiflex. This was the start of his photography journey.

After leaving the Air Force in 1958, he wanted to be a photographer. He bought a Canon camera. He couldn't get into a photography college because of his school record. So, he became an assistant to another photographer, David Ollins.

David Bailey's Professional Photography Career

One of Bailey's images of London gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray

In 1959, Bailey became a photography assistant. By May 1960, he was working as a photographer for Studio Five. Later that year, he became a fashion photographer for British Vogue magazine. He also did a lot of freelance work.

Capturing the Swinging Sixties

David Bailey, along with two other photographers, Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, helped define the "Swinging London" era of the 1960s. This was a time of exciting fashion and celebrity culture. These three photographers became celebrities themselves. They were the first famous photographers, called "the Black Trinity" by Norman Parkinson.

The movie Blowup (1966) was about a London fashion photographer. The main character was inspired by David Bailey. Bailey's famous work, Box of Pin-Ups (1964), showed this era perfectly. It was a box of large prints of 1960s stars. These included The Beatles, Mick Jagger, and model Jean Shrimpton. It also featured the Kray twins, who were famous London gangsters. This collection was very unique and showed how important photographers had become.

Working with Vogue Magazine

At Vogue, Bailey quickly started shooting covers. At his busiest, he photographed 800 pages for Vogue in one year. Penelope Tree, a model he dated, said he was "the king lion." She described him as "incredibly attractive" and "the brightest, most powerful" person at the magazine.

Bailey spoke highly of model Jean Shrimpton. He said, "She was magic and the camera loved her too." He added that she was a "natural" and always knew how to pose perfectly.

Photographing Musicians and Artists

In 1970, David Bailey photographed Cat Stevens for his album Tea for the Tillerman. Bailey's photos were used on the inside of the album cover. He also took pictures for other musicians, like The Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithfull.

In 1972, Bailey photographed rock singer Alice Cooper for Vogue magazine. The next year, he shot photos for Cooper's album Billion Dollar Babies. This photoshoot included a baby with shocking eye makeup and a huge amount of cash, which needed armed guards!

In 1985, Bailey photographed stars at the Live Aid concert. He remembered Freddie Mercury giving him a big hug and kiss during the event.

Fashion Photography and Campaigns

Bailey started working with the fashion brand Jaeger in the late 1950s. After working with other photographers, Vogue officially hired him in 1962.

Early Fashion Shoots

His first photoshoot in New York City was with young model Jean Shrimpton. She wore clothes from Jaeger and Susan Small. The photoshoot was called 'Young Idea Goes West'.

More than 50 years later, Bailey returned to Jaeger to shoot their 2015 autumn/winter campaign. He photographed menswear models and also the model and film director Elisa Sednaoui.

David Bailey's Other Creative Works

Bailey in 2011

Besides photography, David Bailey has directed and produced TV documentaries. He made films about famous artists like Cecil Beaton (1971), Luchino Visconti (1972), and Andy Warhol (1973).

In 1992, he directed a BBC drama called Who Dealt?. In 1995, he directed and wrote a film called The Lady is a Tramp, which starred his wife, Catherine Bailey.

Painting and Sculpture

David Bailey also enjoys painting and sculpting. Some of his sculptures were shown in London in 2010. His paintings and mixed media artworks were displayed in October 2011.

TV Commercials

In the 1970s, Bailey lost some of his camera equipment in a robbery. He replaced it with new, smaller, and lighter Olympus OM system cameras. He then appeared in TV commercials promoting the Olympus OM-1 and Olympus Trip 35 cameras.

Awards and Recognition

• 2001: He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen. This is a special honor for his contributions.
• 2005: He received the Centenary Medal and an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society.
• 2016: He won a Lifetime Achievement award at the Infinity Awards in New York.

Personal Life

David Bailey has been married four times. He first married Rosemary Bramble in 1960. In 1965, he married the actress Catherine Deneuve. They separated in 1972. In 1975, Bailey married the American fashion model and writer Marie Helvin. After they separated, he married model Catherine Dyer in 1986.

Bailey's company is in London. His wife and their son, Fenton Fox Bailey, also a photographer, are involved in the business. The family has a home in Dartmoor, England.

Books by David Bailey

Exhibitions of David Bailey's Work

David Bailey's photographs have been shown in many important art galleries around the world.

• National Portrait Gallery, London (1971)
• Victoria & Albert Museum, London (1983)
• International Center of Photography (ICP), New York (1984)
• Barbican Art Gallery, London (1999)
• Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2000)
• National Portrait Gallery, London – Beatles to Bowie (2009)
• Bailey's Stardust, National Portrait Gallery, London (2014)
• David Bailey Stardust, PAC – Padiglione di Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy (2015)

See also

In Spanish: David Bailey para niños