Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a unique and unusual beauty is in the eye of celebrated photographer Iain McKell, whose work spanning four decades of British cultural life is represented in this quirky and arresting volume.
Since the late 1970s, Iain McKell has been photographing every corner of British society—from supermodels to shopkeepers, Mods to Rockers, gypsies to the gentry, from cosy bed and breakfasts, kiss-me-quick hats, and saucy seaside postcards to squats, urban wastelands, and rural raves. McKell’s camera has captured Britain’s diverse people in all their eccentric and theatrical glory. Featuring an interview with the photographer and an introduction by celebrated author William Oliver, this book traverses the full expanse of McKell’s career, including images from his acclaimed collections Hometown Dreams, Skinheads, and The New Gypsies, along with many never before published images. Whether in black and white or brilliant color, the people of Great Britain have never seemed so great, glamorous, gaudy—and beautiful.
“Throughout Beautiful Britain [is a] sense of connection to the wonderfully weird.…In the hands of someone else, the shots could come off sneering or exploitative, but McKell instead makes them intimate and relaxed.” —American Society of Picture Professionals