John Hedgecoe (24 March 1932 – 3 June 2010) was a British photographer and author of over 30 books on photography. He established the photography department in 1965 at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, where he was Professor from 1975 to 1994 and Professor Emeritus until his death. He was also Pro-Rector of the college from 1981 to 1994. His photographs appear in permanent collections at the New York

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

and London's

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

Early life

Hedgecoe was born in

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. John Hedgecoe received his first camera from his father at the age of 14. Hedgecoe was evacuated during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. They settled in Gulval, a village near

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

where he attended the local school.

Education

Hedgecoe attended

Guildford School of Art Guildford School of Art was formed in 1856 as Guildford Working Men's Institution and was one of several schools of art run by Surrey County Council. After several mergers with tertiary art institutions it became part of the University for th ...

(now

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...

), while also completing his National Service with the RAF. During his service with the RAF, Hedgecoe experimented with aerial photographic surveys of bomb damage from the war. In 1957, he started work as a staff photographer at ''

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

'' magazine, working there until 1972.

Creative work

In the main, Hedgecoe's works are focused on artists and writers. He said: "A good portrait photograph should try to tell us something about the subject's character, for the portrait is a visual biography in a sense." One of Hedgecoe's books was a ''Henry Spencer Moore'', published in 1968. Most photographs by John Hedgecoe are stored at the

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts The Sainsbury Centre is an art museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. As part of its relaunch in 2023 under new executive director, Jago Cooper, the Sainsbury Centre became the first museum in the wor ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Postage stamps

Hedgecoe's profile shot of the

, taken by him in June 1967, was used by

Arnold Machin Arnold Machin OBE RA FRSS (; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer. Biography Machin was born Stoke-on-Trent in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice china ...

to make a plaster version. Once the plaster version was produced, Hedgecoe photographed it for the stamp image. It is one of the most-reproduced images, with over 200 billion copies sold.

Personal life

In 1960, Hedgecoe married Julia Mardon. The couple had three children: Sebastian, Dolly and Auberon.

Publications

* ''Manual of Photography''

Focal Press Focal Press is a publisher of creative and applied media books and it is an imprint of Routledge/Taylor & Francis. Company history The firm was founded in London in 1938 by Andor Kraszna-Krausz, a Hungarian photographer who migrated to England ...

, 1977, * ''The Art of Colour Photography'' Mitchell Beazley for Marks and Spencer, 1984 * ''John Hedgecoe's Nude Photography'' Simon Schuster, 1984 * ''John Hedgecoe's Practical Landscape Photography''

Ebury Press Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Centu ...

, 1988 * ''The Photographer’s Handbook'' Alfred A. Knopf, 1992, *John Hedgecoe's Camcorder Basics Collins & Brown Limited 1995, * ''Breakfast with Dolly'', novel (1996) * ''John Hedgecoe's 35mm Photography'' Collins & Brown, 1999, * ''The New Manual of Photography''

DK Publishing Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

, 2003 * ''John Hedgecoe's Complete Guide to Black White Photography'' Sterling, 2005, * ''How to Take Great Photographs'' Collins & Brown, 2005, * ''The Art of Digital Photography''

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

, 2009, * ''John Hedgecoe's Advanced Photography''

Mitchell Beazley Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlases, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books and wine books. History The London-based company Mitchell Beazley wa ...

, 1982,

References

1932 births 2010 deaths Academics of the Royal College of Art British male writers British male non-fiction writers British non-fiction writers People from Brentford People from Penzance Photographers from Cornwall Writers on photographic techniques {{UK-photographer-stub