Colin O’Brien stands where he photographed Traveller children at London Fields
Sad news. RIP Colin O’Brien (1940-2017), a fine photographer of London for over 65 years – he started when he was only 8 – who died suddenly from a heart attack on Friday.
I didn’t know him well and only met him a few times, but loved his pictures in his book ‘Travellers Children in London Fields’, some of whome came to the book launch. There was a beautiful warmth of feeling in much of his work and in the man himself.
Some of the Travellers at the book launch
There is much to look at on his web site, which contains well over a hundred of his best images and more in the news section, and you can see and hear him talking about 65 years in photography in videos on his web site including one made for the publication of his finely produced book ’65’. In it he explains why he continued to work in black and white because it enabled him to control the whole process from exposure to print.
You can also read the two posts on this blog about the Travellers Children book launch, Colin O’Brien: Traveller Children, and More on Traveller Children, though the latter is more about my then new toy, the Samyang 8mm fisheye for the Fuji-X system, than about Colin, though it does include two pictures taken with it of him talking at the launch.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.
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Don’t miss ‘So Long, Colin O’Brien’ on ‘Spitalfields Life’: http://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/08/22/so-long-colin-obrien/
Colin worked with ‘the gentle author’ for over 50 assignments for Spitalfields Life and there are links to many of them at the bottom of the piece, followed by many appreciative comments.