Five questions for PhiIlip Townsend
by MEGAN VAUGHAN - Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Phillip Townsend
Seminal 1960s photographer Philip Townsend put his camera down in 1970, and hundreds of his iconic images remained in a dusty cupboard until just a few years ago. After a successful exhibition in London, his Sorry You Missed The 60s collection is now on view at Watergate Street Gallery.
Why do you think the 1960s are such an iconoclastic decade?
Because the people running the country, and ruling Africa and India, changed. Twiggy was the first working-class model, and The Rolling Stones and The Beatles proved you didn't need to come from Oxford University to be successful.
You're credited with creating The Rolling Stones' bad-boy image. Is that true?
Well, Andrew Oldham really created it; he just told me to go out and do it. I took the very first pictures of them, just four days after they signed with Andrew. He told me he'd turn them into the biggest band in the world, and he did. Of all the people that you photographed, who did you enjoy the most?
I'd like to say they were all difficult, but you never used to have to go through all the hangers-on you get now. You could just phone up and ask: 'Can I photograph you?', and they'd say yes.
Why did you decide to exhibit again?
In the 1970s, 1980s and most of the 1990s, no one was interested. Then big auction houses started having rock'*'roll auctions, and no one had thought of exhibiting this sort of image before.
Do you agree that if you can remember the 1960s, you weren't really there?
Of course! I didn't get excited about what was in my cupboard of photos because I didn't know. But when I got them out again, I couldn't believe what I had. There's a shoot with Twiggy that I simply can't remember being at.
Until Oct 1, Watergate Street Gallery, 60 Watergate Street, Chester, Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm, Sun 11am to 4pm, free. Tel: 01244 345698.
www.watergatestreetgallery.co.uk
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