John Swannell (photographer)
John Swannell, born 27 December 1946, is a British photographer.
Family and background
John Swannell's mother, Lilly McCann came from just outside Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. He has a large family connection still there in the McCann family.
John Swannell is married to Marianne Lah and they have two children, daughter Sophia (b. 1983) and son Charlie (b. 1989). He also has two daughters, Alice and Jane, from his previous marriage.
Career
After leaving school at 16, John worked first as an assistant at Vogue Studios and then assisted David Bailey for four years before setting up his own studio.[1]
He spent the next ten years travelling and working for magazines such as Vogue, Harpers & Queen, the Sunday Times and Tatler. During this time he developed his very distinctive, individual style in both fashion and beauty photography.
John is known for his royal portrait photographs. Other portrait commissions include the 2004 Christmas card for Tony and Cherie Blair; Richard Attenborough, Michael Caine, Bryan Ferry, Norman Foster, Bob Hoskins, Glenda Jackson, Tom Jones, Ken Livingstone, Joanna Lumley.[2]
Royal photographer
John has photographed all the leading members of the Royal Family, apart from Princess Margaret.[3]
In November 1994, Diana, The Princess of Wales personally commissioned John to photograph her together with her sons.
In February 2012, John was commissioned to take the official photographs of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to mark the Diamond Jubilee of her accession to the throne.[4]
Awards
In 1993 John Swannell was awarded a Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society; he was one of the youngest members to have achieved this status at the time.[5]
Charity work
On 7 June 2011, John gave an illustrated talk "My world in pictures" at the Royal Geographical Society in aid of the National Autism Society.
External links
Source: Biography from johnswannell.com, extract reproduced with permission.
- ↑ "John Swannell: photographer".
- ↑ "John Swannell, Esq". Debretts People of Today.
- ↑ "John Swannell interview 2008". Freelance Photographer.
- ↑ "Official portraits released". The official website of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
- ↑ "Masters of photography: John Swannell". Professional Photographer.