JOHN Swannell is rightly considered one of the great British photographers working today. During his four decades in the business, he has shot celebrity portraits, fashion, beauty, advertising, nudes and landscapes, but whatever he’s photographing he does it elegantly, professionally and with meticulous attention to detail. He has a natural instinct for creating beautiful images, with David Bailey once describing him as ‘an incurable romantic’.
Swannell started photography at around the age of 12. His dyslexia made academic work difficult and he gravitated towards working with images, photographing school plays and sports days. ‘It was in the blood from the beginning,’ he said in a 2011 interview. ‘There was never going to be another job for me when I left school. It was always going to be photography.’
At 16,…