BIOGRAPHY: REG WILKINS
Reg Wilkins is an international freelance photographer with a career spanning more than four decades. Born in Brockley, London in 1942, he assisted the acclaimed fashion, advertising and editorial photographer, David Montgomery for seven years in the 1960s. Concurrent with this Reg also assisted the legendary photographer Richard Avedon and the famous celebrity photographer Terry O'Neil.
Whilst Assistant Photographer to David Montgomery, Reg was invited to be Photographic Advisor to the iconic film Director, Michelangelo Antonioni on the enigmatic and award winning classic Carlo Ponti film Blowup (1966). Reg also appeared in the film as a London fashion photographer's assistant. Hailed as a masterpiece, the film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, was nominated for an Oscar and today has a worldwide cult following. The star-studded cast included David Hemmings as the photographer, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, John Castle, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills, Peter Bowles, a host of the world's top fashion models and brief appearances by The Yardbirds, Michael Palin and Janet Street-Porter.
In the 1970s Reg was asked to be Staff Photographer for Management Today magazine well known for its free, creative style:
Her Majesty's Misgovernment
The Managed Metamorphosis at ICI's Core
Rolls Silver Solid (Rolls Royce)
Mrs Thatcher's Tory Troubles
The Levitation of Levi Strauss
Regions of Discontent
American Management's Watergate
The Business of the Bank (The Bank of England)
Regenerating British Government
These were among the many, many articles Reg illustrated with his photographs for the magazine.
During this period and later, as well as carrying out freelance commissions for other magazines and advertising agencies, he was photographing personal projects both at home and overseas which continued until he retired in 2007.
Reg's portraits include numerous celebrities from the world of politics, business and entertainment such as:
Baron Michael Heseltine CH, PC - Former Conservative Party Deputy Prime Minister and Founder of Haymarket Publishing
Dame Catherine Cookson DBE - Novelist
Baron Richard Beeching - Former Chairman of the Royal Commission and Chairman of British Railways
Alan and Suzanne Osmond and the Osmond Brothers Second Generation - Family Music Group
Bobby Butlin - Head of Butlins Holidays
Dave Cash - Veteran Radio and Television Presenter
Baron William Deedes KBE, MC, PC, DL - Former Cabinet Minister and Editor of The Daily Telegraph
Kenny Everett - Comedian
Baron John Diamond PC - Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Leader in the House of Lords
David Hemmings - Actor, Director and Producer
Tom Jackson - Former Governor of the BBC, President of the Trades Union Congress and General Secretary of the Union of Communication Workers
Fred Housego - Radio and Television Personality and Former Winner of the BBC Television Mastermind Quiz
Peter Lilley MP - Former Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Bernard Matthews - Turkey Farmer and Founder of Bernard Matthews Foods
Maggie Philbin - Radio and Television Presenter
Baron Gordon Richardson KG, MBE, TD, PC, DL - Former Governor of The Bank of England and Chairman of Schroder & Company
David Berglas - Psychological Illusionist and Mentalist and Former President of The Magic Circle
Baron Hugh Scanlon - Former President of the Amalgamated Engineering Union
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - Musician, Composer and former International Chair of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music
Baron Dick Tavern QC - Former Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Home Office Minister
Mike Neville MBE - Television News Presenter
Barry Tuckwell AC, OBE - Horn Player
Baron Peter Walker MBE, PC - Former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Chairman of Kleinwort Benson
John Craven OBE - BBC Journalist and Broadcaster
Baron Heinz Petry - Former Head of Krupp Industries
Kathleen Jannaway - Head of the Movement for Compassionate Living and Former Secretary of the Vegan Society
Sir Monty Finniston - Former Chairman of British Steel and Chancellor of Stirling University
Yvonne Antrobus - Actress
Sir John Davis - Film Producer, Former Managing Director of Odeon Cinemas and Chairman of the Rank Organization
Sian Edwards - Composer and Conductor
Baron Hartley Shawcross GBE, PC, KC - Former Lead British Prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal and Attorney General for England and Wales
Leading magazines have published Reg's documentary, reportage and portrait photographs including:
Art and Antiques
Fortune
Management Today
Nova
Radio Times
Sunday Observer
Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Time
Vogue.
Reg has also photographed major advertising campaigns including:
Central Television
Jaguar Cars
Legal and General
As well as photographing many of the world`s most prominent industrialists, he has shot campaigns for:
Chemical Bank
Digital International
Massey Ferguson
Merril Lynch
Shell and Wang
Nominations and awards for Reg`s work have come from the most internationally respected creative awards for the design and advertising industries such as:
The London Designers and Art Directors Association Awards
The New York Art Directors Club Awards
The London Guardian Awards
His photographs have been exhibited in prestigious art spaces such as:
The Medici Gallery
The Association of Photographers' Gallery
The New Kodak Gallery
many other national touring exhibitions
In recognition of his sense of design in photography, Reg was made a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers (FCSD) in 1983. The society is the world's largest and only Royal chartered body of professional designers and its Patron HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Reg has also been a member of the highly esteemed Association of Photographers (AOP) since 1981.
Following a serious head injury whilst on an extensive shoot for a multi-national company taking him to thirty-five countries, Reg had to greatly simplify his working practices and gradually reduce the photographic commissions he accepted. Thereafter he concentrated on personal projects and making available photographic prints of his life's work to collectors.
The Reg Wilkins Archives, comprising the complete collection of personal and commercial materials relating to his career, are currently held by Timothy Prus at the Archive of Modern Conflict in London.
Reg in the film
©1966 Arthur Evans
Reg and David Hemmings during filming
©2009 Reg Wilkins
Reg in 2009
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.facebook.com/RegWilkins.Photographer
SOURCE: E-mail correspondence (many thanks, Reg)