Peter Dench

Peter Dench (born 23 April 1972[1]) is a photojournalist working primarily in advertising, editorial and portraiture photography. He has worked on assignment in over fifty countries but concentrates on England.[1][2] He is also an aspiring videographer.[3]

Biography

Dench was born and grew up in Weymouth, Dorset.[4] He graduated from the University of Derby with a degree in Photographic Studies in 1995 and has been working as a photojournalist since 1998.[4] He currently lives in Crouch End, London.

Dench is best known for his decade of work documenting England. He breaks the subject down into manageable chunks with a specific theme (thereby also making them easier to fund);[4][5] which have included drinkUK, ethnicUK, rainUK, loveUK, royalUK, summerUK, fashionUK, and Carry on England.

Dench was a member of the photo agency Independent Photographer's Group (IPG) from 2000 until the company's closure in 2005.[6][7] In January 2012 he joined Reportage by Getty Images as one of their Represented Photographers.[8]

Around 2007 Dench spent 15 months photographing Football's Hidden Story in 20 countries on commission for FIFA, documenting "the way in which the sport thrives in the most improbable circumstances and in which enthusiasm for the game is being harnessed for the good of the community".[9]

A Day Off in the Lives of Europe is another of Dench's projects, in which he photographed people around Europe commemorating events of national significance.

Dench says of his work:

I’m always looking for humour in my pictures. Charlie Chaplin is a big influence and I often try to address serious subjects in a humorous way when appropriate. My aim is to make people laugh, make people think. Looking through the books of Elliott Erwitt and Martin Parr is the reason I got into photography. If you can travel the world making people laugh and making them think, then to me that's a fine way to live.[4]

The Visa pour l'image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France, has screened Dench's work five times (including Carry On England in 2009[10]) and given it one full exhibition.[5]

Dench is a contributing editor of Hungry Eye magazine and creative director of the White Cloth Gallery in Leeds.[11] He was a contributor to Professional Photographer magazine podcasts 1 to 13 in 2010/2011.[12] His monthly 'Dench Diary' appeared in Professional Photographer in 2010/2011[13] and in Hungry Eye from 2011 to the present.

Dench's advertising commissions have appeared on billboards and bus stop posters, in corporate brochures and in newspapers, including campaigns for Weetabix,[14] Barclaycard,[15] Barclays Wealth,[16] Suzuki, the British Heart Foundation, Danish Bacon and Maxim Magazine.

Dench has made formal portraits of Tom Jones, Vinnie Jones, Heston Blumenthal, Freddie Flintoff, Alain Ducasse, Jamie Oliver, Vijay Mallya, Zöe Lucker, Tamsin Greig, Ahmet Ertegun, Alicia Silverstone and Dermot Desmond.

The photographer Simon Roberts has said of Dench that he has an "inimitable style and dry humour ... His work is well worth a look, particularly his drinkUK project".[10]

In February 2012 Dench successfully used the Emphas.is visual journalism crowd funding website to raise funds for his first book England Uncensored, [17][18] published in May 2012.

For 6 months in 2013 Dench collaborated with Reportage by Getty Images on the Future of Britain project, commissioned by OMD UK. Dench photographed Britain to accompany OMD's research and statistics on the long-term economic downturn and changes to Britain's population and demographics, published on a blog throughout the period.[19]

Books

Books (with others)

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Exhibitions at festivals

Short films

Awards

Notes

  1. ↑ Its web page is www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/suited-and-booted.
  2. ↑ Its web page is www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/suited-and-booted.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Peter Dench Q&A". London: The Daily Telegraph. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. ↑ Hamblett, Jennifer (17 October 2011). "A Decade of Winks and Winces". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Hungry Eye News: It’s A Merry Denchmas". Hungry Eye. 22 December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012. Peter Dench, Contributing Editor to Hungry Eye magazine and award winning photographer has spent 2011 mastering the art of creating short films, which reflect his photography.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Street Photography: Peter Dench". Photography Monthly. 24 November 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Laurent, Olivier (29 August 2011). "Visa pour l'Image: Peter Dench's England". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Interviste". December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012. In 2000 the UK photo agency, Independent Photographers Group (IPG), offered to part fund Dench's plans to document the drinking habits of the English
  7. ↑ "ABOUT US". Refocus. Retrieved 9 January 2012. Amy Coppins embarked on a one year internship with the Independent Photographers Group (IPG) London, and it was there that she worked with photographers Tom Stoddart, Peter Dench and Richard Baker.
  8. ↑ Carleton, Will (26 January 2012). "Peter Dench Is Now at Reportage". Photo Archive News. Retrieved 27 January 2012. UK based photographer Peter Dench is now represented at Reportage By Getty Images.
  9. ↑ Louth, Sean (1 June 2010). "Football international". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Simon Roberts (19 August 2009). "Carry On England by Peter Dench". Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Peter Dench". Pro Solutions 2011: Seminars. Speakers. Canon UK. 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  12. ↑ Here at Professional Photographer.
  13. ↑ "The Dench Diary". Professional Photographer. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "Peter Dench – Someone's had their Weetabix". World Photography Organisation. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  15. ↑ "Saatchi Online Artist: Peter Dench". Saatchi Online. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Project: Barclays Wealth – Photographer: Peter Dench". Locate Productions. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "Crowdfunding platform Emphas.is goes insolvent amid internal conflicts". British Journal of Photography. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013. While all photographers who successfully raised funds on the platform received the money they were owed before the company's liquidation, a group of photographers have seen their work become hostage to Emphas.is' internal divisions. William Daniels, Rian Dundon, Peter Dench and Rémi Ochlik's family have now learned that the books they published using the crowdfunding website are sitting untouched in a garage in the South of France.
  18. ↑ "UK Uncensored by Peter Dench". Emphas.is. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  19. ↑ Laurent, Olivier (2013). "Country in flux". British Journal of Photography (Apptitude Media) 160 (7814): 80–81.
  20. ↑ "Photographer Peter Dench has launched an eBook, in...". Reportage by Getty Images. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  21. ↑ "Joop Swart Masterclass 10 years". World Press Photo. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  22. ↑ "The Central European House of Photography in...". Reportage by Getty Images. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2013. The Central European House of Photography in Bratislava, Slovakia, will be exhibiting Peter Dench's "England Uncensored" from late April to late May. An opening reception is on April 24 at 6pm.
  23. ↑ "Foto8 Summer Show Exhibition Catalogue" (pdf). Foto8. Retrieved 10 January 2012. (68) Peter Dench Football's Hidden Story: A Liberian football team sing inspirational songs from the terraces of the Antoinette Tubman Stadium
  24. ↑ "Summershow 2008: In Summary". Foto8. 18 March 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  25. ↑ Dodd, James (24 June 2010). "Foto8 Summer Show 2010". Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  26. ↑ "Letters From Europe". Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  27. ↑ "England Uncensored at White Cloth Gallery". Professional Photographer. 19 July 2012. Peter Dench's England Uncensored will launch at the White Cloth Gallery today, alongside work from the 'Great British Public' as part of the gallery's Best of British summer season. The exhibition includes the award winning photographers, Simon Roberts and Zed Nelson.
  28. ↑ "GETXOPHOTO 2010: EL ELOGIO DEL OCIO". 20 September 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  29. ↑ Valderrama, Paco. "Introduction: Something for Everyone". Periscopio Vitoria-Gasteiz. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  30. ↑ "England Uncensored: a decade of photographing the English". Format Festival. 4 March – 3 April 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  31. ↑ "Peter Dench". Festival Photoreporter. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  32. ↑ Here at Vimeo.
  33. ↑ Here at Vimeo.
  34. ↑ "Sport winners". Photography Masters Cup. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  35. ↑ "Interview with Peter Dench – Photographer of the Month". World Photography Organisation. 14 September 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2012. Achievements which stick out for me is being selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in 2002
  36. ↑ "2002, Peter Dench, 3rd Prize, People in the News stories". World Press Photo. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.

External links