Chalkie Davies

I am planning to attend the Ifor Davies exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff next week, which has reminded me of the Chalkie Davies exhibition I attended last year at the same venue. The exhibition was entitled The NME Years, which is very much my era and it was great not only to witness some amazing photography but to also reminisce my youth. On display were some excellent examples of Editorial Portraits by Davies, who clearly had a rapport with the singers and bands he photographed. Davies not only photographed the rock bands, but people he referred to as his “friends” and this is evident in the relaxed manner of his subjects; he’s able to organise and arrange the 20 members of the group Madness on Brighton beach as shown in the photo above that I took on my mobile ‘phone.

In the video on the Museum website that accompanies the exhibition it states, “He photographed legendary times”, which very much sums it up for me. They were a great set of photographs and a great source of inspiration for my own Editorial Portraits.

I do however question the venue, which I found rather stuffy and uninspiring, the Museum exhibition curator had an opportunity to create a mood with appropriate music and perhaps some original posters of the time, this could have made the whole experience more immersive and enjoyable. Although headphones were available they tended to isolate one from the physical experience.