26 14 December 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
‘I think he got a buzz out of that.
We got the old camera that he hand
built. We had to get all the lenses
refurbished and we just went
through the [shooting] process. He
hadn’t taken a picture for 30 years,
so it was kind of intriguing for him
to do that.’
Besides being his son, having
assisted Duffy for many years,
Chris has a unique insight into his
father’s life and work. Of the Bailey,
Donovan, Duffy trinity he recalls,
‘It is quite unique really that they
were all very close, very differentKillip – and noted, ‘It was very
exciting. We talked philosophy
and photography ad nauseam and
from the first day of photography
I thought, “Shit, this is the game.
This is it. This is for me.” I was
about 21 at that time and with hair!’
After an early slip-up at Vog ue,
when Duffy shot the legendary
German orchestra conductor Otto
Klemperer with a Leica rangefinder
camera he was unfamiliar with and
thus forgot to take the lens cap off,
he quickly went from strength to
strength. His images bookmark the
1960s and 1970s and include two
Pirelli Calendars, although he took
his name off the second one after
clashing with the artist Allen Jones
over its artistic direction.
Duffy is succinct in summing
up the difference of the Bailey,
Donovan, Duffy trio in the world
of fashion photography. ‘The way
to be a successful [fashion]
photographer was to be tall, thin
and camp – you were seen to be
inside the tent and we were not.
Whilst I’m not saying we were all
short, fat and scruffy... we were
certainly closer to that.’
Keeping the torch burning
His eldest son, Chris Duffy – a
successful photographer and
filmmaker in his own right – now
runs the Duffy Archive, which
carries the torch for Duffy’s work. He
has produced the updated version of
the 2011 book Duffy, which is now
split into pictorial sections headed
‘Frocks, Money, Faces, David Bowie’.
It was Chris Duffy who persuaded
his father to pick up a camera again
in 2009 when the BBC was filming
the documentary, The Man Who
Shot the Sixties. Duffy went back to
shoot previous subjects, including
Joanna Lumley and her son Jamie,
and David Puttnam. Chris notes:
people and [each of them] brought
a different dynamic to it. But they
were all obsessed with photography.
Terry and Bailey would come round
to [Duffy’s studio at] King Henry’s
Road and sit in the lounge. They
talked photography ad infinitum.’
He continues, ‘They were obsessed
with techniques, cameras, lenses,
film stocks and who was pushing
the boundaries into what area. The
American photographers were a big
influence on them – Robert Frank,
Bruce Davidson and, of course,
Penn and Avedon. There was a lotAbove: Barry
Lategan, Don
McCullin, Duffy,
Bailey and
Donovan, 1976Right: Michael
Caine contact
sheet, 1964