Janette Beckman is an English documentary photographer born in London and living and working in New York.
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Beckman started her career photographing the punk scene in England and New York in the 70s and 80s and has continued without pause. Attending King Alfred School in Hampstead, an alternative establishment "where the emphasis, both academically and socially, is on discovering and maximising the potential of each child" [1] she discovered art, and upon leaving at 17 she spent a year at St Martins School of Art, and then three years at London College of Communication studying photography.
She soon had a job shooting for music magazines such as Melody Maker [2] and The Face, with a studio and darkroom in central London. Beckman moved permanently to New York in 1982 and continued her career, shooting for her UK clients as well as new ones in the US. Beckman's work has appeared on records for the major labels, and in magazines including Esquire, Rolling Stone,[3] Glamour, Italian Vogue, The Times, Newsweek, Jalouse,[4] Mojo and others. Beckman says "The bands and the fans – I loved the music and the styles."[5]
Beckman was very prolific from the beginning of her career; she was widely published and continues to photograph new bands and other subjects. Meeting like-minded and similarly-backgrounded Vivien Goldman led to a long-term friendship and productive working relationship.
Beckman describes herself as a documentary photographer;[6] she produces a lot of work on location, including the cover for Police album Zenyattà Mondatta (taken in the middle of a forest in the Netherlands), but she is also a studio portrait photographer.
In August 2010 Beckman produced a new exhibition entitled "Archive of Attitude" at Arkitip's Project Space, Los Angeles,[7] which included artifacts from Def Jam [8] and which garnered a lot of press coverage. [9][10][11][12][13][14] Arkitip published a special supplement to the show in the form of a limited edition broadsheet newspaper full of Janette's photographs.[15] That same month photographer Jill Furmanovsky chose Janette's Paul Weller and Pete Townsend as one of her personal favourite music photographs for an article with NME.[16]
In March 2011 the Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York City opened an exhibition at their Bowery location titled "Catch the Beat: The Roots of Punk and Hip Hop"[17], a joint exhibition of photographs by Beckman and photographer David Corio. In a related interview for It's Nice That [18] blog, she talks about the original publications she shot for and how she came to be in New York documenting Hip Hop; and in an article in Interview Magazine [19]about the images in the show she says "I'm sort of the antithesis of Annie Leibovitz."
In July 2011, Flavorwire named Janette Beckman one of "10 Rock Photographers You Should Know"[20]In the same month Janette launched "Archive Of Attitude", a blog recounting the stories behind the photographs.
Janette is the niece of Morris Beckman.
Two books, both published by PowerHouse demonstrate the diversity in style and subjects she has achieved over the years.
Made in the UK; The Music of Attitude was published in 2005 and has images of, and stories about, a variety of bands and cultures, from 1977-1983: rockabillies, punks, mods, and dub reggae artists; Elvis Costello, Sex Pistols, The Ramones. It also has a foreword by the British designer Paul Smith, and an essay by Vivien Goldman.
The Breaks: Stylin' and Profilin', published in 2007, is made up of images of rap and hip hop stars from 1982-1990 including Afrika Bambaataa, Run DMC, Slick Rick, Salt-n-Pepa and Grandmaster Flash.
Also published, now out of print, is "Rap!". This book was published by St. Martin's Press in 1991.[21]
Beckman has also photographed: Campaigns for SAGE;[22] M.I.A. for a Converse billboard; Yao Ming for Nickelodeon Magazine; Madeleine Albright for Glamour and Drag Queens for Vodafone
She shoots kids, authors, sports personalities and celebrities as well as a variety of personal work.