Several times on the opening night of the Terry O’Neill exhibition at Leeds Gallery (the city’s newest commercial gallery) I used the word ‘iconic’. It was hard not to. Around us in the clean white gallery on the ground floor of Munro House in Leeds were some of the most famous photos of some of the most famous stars of the 60’s and 70’s. These are the people who defined the word famous, for whom the tag “celebrity” was invented in those heady innocent days when everything changed in 60’s and 70’s. These are powerful, powerful images of powerful people. Not powerful because of wealth (though that was a side effect for some) but powerful because of they had been naturally gifted a charisma, a beauty, a talent and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of luck.

Terry’s talent is not making people look impressive. It’s making people look natural. It’s capturing people as they are (or how we want them to be). Many of the pictures are candid and unposed but even those taken in the studio have a naturalness about them which is incredibly attractive. There’s also a complicity. It’s not Terry vs his subject. It’s not the cruel theft of paparazzi or the cold artifice of the studio. It’s an in joke, and understanding. A collusion. Terry was as beguiled by these people as we are… He was a FAN. You can feel his belief of their beauty or charisma, his joy at being with these people he considered wonderful at that exciting time. There’s a sense that although his photos are never fawning, that he wanted to intoxicated by their myth as much as we do.

Bruce Springsteen walking down sunset

There’s also another kind of complicity as well especially in those 60’s photos, a sharing of knowledge between him and subject… I imagine a little wink between Terry and the subjects that says “Well, we know we’re all chancers right? We’re only in these privileged positions ‘cos we’re lucky, ‘cos we’re quick, ‘cos we hustle, ‘cos we the world has changed and people like us have got the keys now!” [cue infectious east end cackle...]

Jean Shrimpton and Terrence Stamp 1963

Even though he’s talked in other interviews about the respect he has for the people he shot and he never overstepped his role as photographer there still is a sense that he was an equal. (He married Faye Dunaway for chrissakes! That’s not what the hired help do…) He was more famous than the Beatles when he first photographed them pre Beatlemania in 1963. Hell, at that point bands didn’t even get ‘famous’… It was the very first time a ‘pop group’ had ever been on the front page of a national paper in the UK. The Daily Sketch was amazed by how many copies they sold and begged him to find another band to photograph. He presented some shots of another unknown band he knew. They were a young Rolling Stones. (The photos weren’t used at first as they were deemed ‘too ugly’.)

Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore

I got chance to chat to Terry in private for 15 minutes. He’s refreshingly laid back and humble and very gracious with my slightly inept questions. A glass of red wine in hand (everyone else was drinking standard issue opening night fizz) he still has a hint of the East End about him and the word ‘facking’ is sprinkled lightly through his conversation like seasoning. He says a number of times that he has been so lucky to have had the life he’s had. I don’t ask him anything about cameras or lenses or technique because it’s obvious from looking at his photos that although his technical skills are very very good the power of his photos has nothing to do with that. It’s all do with his relationship with the people he shoots.

Racquel Welch sans knickers

I ask him about this. I tell him how I see a love in his photos. A love and respect for the subject and how I feel that this is one of the reasons why they are iconic and one of the reasons why some people photographs are better than others. How the photos feel like a conversation a joint effort, a secret that we get to be part of. There is a pause… He claps me on the shoulder and a little glint enters his eye as he stares deep into mine.

“Good lad” he says.

I blush.

Mobile Pic

I ask him if he there was a point where he realised what he was doing was art. “Never.” (He is surprisingly vehement) “It was just something I fell into. A way to pass the time, I never thought of it as anything more. There was a point when I moved to America in 1970 and I suddenly realised the value of all the photos I’d taken in London but I’ve never thought of myself as an artist… It was just what I did.”

Art is what's in the frame

I wonder if he still shoots. “Nah” he says “Don’t miss it. The people just ain’t as interesting any more… It’s all fleeting, all temporary… It’s like the X-Factor. What’s actually interesting about those people? And you can’t get the access anymore anyway.” (He used to hang out on film sets for weeks to get these shots, part of the team, part of the film) “Who wants to get a heavily controlled 15 minutes in a hotel room? Just doesn’t interest me. I just shoot for friends now… like if Eric (Clapton) phones me up I’ll help him out… I just go through my negatives. I’ve got thousands in the archive and I keep finding good ones.”

Amy Winehouse 2007

He says that he does about 10 of these shows a year, all commercial to sell prints but “I don’t really care about that anymore. I just like seeing people enjoy the photos.” As we talk his agent wanders through, like a character from a Michael Caine. Loud, booming, heavy, London. Kinda gangster. “Terry’s still the best. He sells more prints than anyone in London!” Cackle. “They’ve got David  Bailey doing facking paintings cos he can’t sell enough facking prints! Facking paintings!” We laugh. Terry shakes his head grinning. I feel like I’m in a film and start looking round for nearby multi-storey car parks in case the agent gets the urge to dangle me somewhere…

Laaarnadan

After they do both seriously talk about their belief in the gallery and more importantly to them how they think all the things happening in Munro House will change the area and maybe even Leeds a little….

I ask him what his favourite party was. “I never partied.” (I express disbelief, one of my own personal myths busted) “Really” he says. “I used to work hard and get up early.” He laughs again.

Terry O'Neill makes a point

As we wind up Mark from Exposure Leeds comes in to to chat and ask for a portrait. We talk shop a little for the first time and Terry asks if my camera is digital. I say yes. He says “I facking hate digital” We talk about the way a manual film camera feels, about how you feel connected to the process and how hard it must be for someone starting out now to work out the rules of exposure through the layers of menus and interfaces. He gets asked again if he still shoots and gives the same answer as he did to me earlier and then pauses…

“Actually I did a job a couple of weeks ago. Eric Clapton’s daughters wedding… Shot it digitally and everything.”

Pause.

“Facking hated it. Facking pain in the ass. Bride and groom, groom’s mum, aunties, uncles…. But Eric’s a mate int he? What ya gonna do?” Laughs.

Terry having his portrait taken

I tell him he should persevere and he might get a career out of it, take one quick snap and leave to rejoin the public. I feel like I’ve had a tiny journey into a different world.

And then I grab another drink and I look round the gallery again with slightly fresher eyes and fall in love with all those people in all those photos all over again.

You can view the catalogue online on the Leeds Gallery website.

Leeds Gallery

Leeds Gallery is a new commercial gallery on the ground floor of Munro House in Leeds. It’s open Monday through Saturday between 10am and 6pm. The Terry O’Neill exhibition is world class and could happily grace any small gallery in the world in my opinion. I heartily recommend going to see it. Coming up to Christmas they’re planning an exhibition of childrens books illustrations (including original Quentin Blake’s) which sounds equally marvelous. If you have any interest at exhibiting at Leeds Gallery you should drop them an email at gallery@leedsgallery.com

Ed Waring takes photos, records bands and also plays keyboards in Hope and Social. He does like people. In fact, he likes people an awful lot.