David Bailey, 1970-tallet

After leaving school at 16, he worked first as an assistant at Vogue Studios and then assisted David Bailey for four years before setting up his own studio. He spent the next ten years traveling and working for magazines, and during this time he developed his very distinctive, individual style in both fashion and beauty photography. In 1989 John Swannell had a one man show at The Royal Academy in Edinburgh, followed in 1990 by an exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. In July of the same year The Royal Photographic Society held a retrospective of his fashion work. In November 1994, Diana, The Princess of Wales personally commissioned John to photograph her together with her sons. John photographed HRH The Princess Royal for her fortieth and fiftieth birthdays, and later he photographed HM The Queen on several occasions.