Peter Dench

Peter Dench (born 23 April 1972[1]) is a photojournalist working primarily in advertising, editorial and portraiture photography.[1][2][3] His work has been published in a number of his own books, exhibited and won awards.

Biography

Dench was born and grew up in Weymouth, Dorset.[4] He graduated from the University of Derby with a degree in Photographic Studies in 1995 and has been working as a photojournalist since 1998.[4] He currently lives in Crouch End, London.

Dench is best known for his decade of work documenting England. He breaks the subject down into manageable chunks with a specific theme (thereby also making them easier to fund);[4][5] which have included drinkUK, ethnicUK, rainUK, loveUK, royalUK, summerUK, fashionUK, and Carry on England.

Dench was a member of the photo agency Independent Photographer's Group (IPG) from 2000 until the company's closure in 2005.[6][7] In January 2012 he joined Reportage by Getty Images as one of their Represented Photographers[8] (later known as Getty Verbatim).

Around 2007 Dench spent 15 months photographing Football's Hidden Story in 20 countries on commission for FIFA, documenting "the way in which the sport thrives in the most improbable circumstances and in which enthusiasm for the game is being harnessed for the good of the community".[9]

A Day Off in the Lives of Europe is another of Dench's projects, in which he photographed people around Europe commemorating events of national significance.

Dench says of his work:

I’m always looking for humour in my pictures. Charlie Chaplin is a big influence and I often try to address serious subjects in a humorous way when appropriate. My aim is to make people laugh, make people think. Looking through the books of Elliott Erwitt and Martin Parr is the reason I got into photography. If you can travel the world making people laugh and making them think, then to me that's a fine way to live.[4]

The Visa pour l'image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France, has screened Dench's work five times (including Carry On England in 2009[10]) and given it one full exhibition.[5]

Dench was described in 2011 as a contributing editor of Hungry Eye magazine and creative director of the White Cloth Gallery in Leeds, which he founded with co-creative director Sharon Price.[11] He was a contributor to Professional Photographer magazine podcasts 1 to 13 in 2010/2011.[12] His monthly 'Dench Diary' appeared in Professional Photographer in 2010/2011[13] and in Hungry Eye from 2011 to the present.

Dench's advertising commissions have appeared on billboards and bus stop posters, in corporate brochures and in newspapers, including campaigns for Weetabix,[14] Barclaycard,[15] Barclays Wealth,[16] Suzuki, the British Heart Foundation, Danish Bacon and Maxim Magazine.

Dench has made formal portraits of Tom Jones, Vinnie Jones, Heston Blumenthal, Freddie Flintoff, Alain Ducasse, Jamie Oliver, Vijay Mallya, Zöe Lucker, Tamsin Greig, Ahmet Ertegun, Alicia Silverstone and Dermot Desmond.

The photographer Simon Roberts has said of Dench that he has an "inimitable style and dry humour ... His work is well worth a look, particularly his drinkUK project".[10]

In February 2012 Dench successfully used the Emphas.is visual journalism crowd funding website to raise funds for his first book England Uncensored, [17][18] published in May 2012.

For 6 months in 2013 Dench collaborated with Reportage by Getty Images on the Future of Britain project, commissioned by OMD UK. Dench photographed Britain to accompany OMD's research and statistics on the long-term economic downturn and changes to Britain's population and demographics, published on a blog throughout the period.[19]

In 2015 he founded The Curators with his co-founder Director Sharon Price, curating art exhibitions and events, touring photography exhibitions worldwide.

Publications

Publications by Dench
  • England Uncensored. Dublin: Emphas.is, 2012. ISBN 978-1-909076-00-6.
  • The Dench Diary: The Diary of a Sometimes Working Professional Photographer. Eastbourne: United Nations of Photography, 2013. ISBN 978-1-909135-11-6. Edition of 250 copies.[20]
  • A&E: Alcohol and England. Liverpool: Bluecoat, 2014. ISBN 978-1908457233.
  • The British Abroad. Liverpool: Bluecoat, 2014.[n 1] ISBN 9781908457264. With an introduction and afterword by Dench.
  • Dench Does Dallas. Liverpool: Bluecoat, 2015. ISBN 978-1908457295. With a foreword by Dench.
  • The English Summer Season. Little Neston, UK: Fistful, 2019. Edition of 125 copies.

Zines by Dench
  • Suited and Booted. Southport: Café Royal, 2013. Edition of 150 copies.[n 2]
  • Trawlermen. Southport: Café Royal, 2015. Edition of 150 copies.[n 3]
  • Football’s Hidden Story. Fistful, 2019. Edition of 125 copies.

Publications edited or with contributions by Dench

Awards
  • 2nd place, Advertising category, Sony World Photography Awards[4]
  • Roadside Diners, July 1998 selected for National Portrait Gallery's John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, London, 1999
  • George, Naturist, Palm Springs, October 2000 selected for National Portrait Gallery, John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, London, 2001
  • 1 of 12 photographers selected to take part in World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass 2002[22]
  • 3rd prize, People in the News category, World Press Photo Award, 2002 for Drinking of England[11][23]
  • Marquesa deVarela, social fixer for Hello! magazine, April 2003 selected for National Portrait Gallery's Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize, London, 2003
  • Football's Hidden Story, selected for Photo District News (PDN) World in Focus Photography Contest
  • Football's Hidden Story, selected for Association of Photographers (AOP) Open award, 2008
  • Football's Hidden Story, selected for Photo District News (PDN) Photo Annual Award, 2008
  • 1st place, Sport category, Football in Liberia, 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup, International Color Awards, 2009[24]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions
  • 2008: Football's Hidden Story, Liberia, The Foto8 Summershow[29][30]
  • 2010: 2 images from loveUK, The Foto8 Summershow[31]
  • 2011: 1 of 6 photographers contributed to Letters from Europe, Ernest Lluch Cultural Center, San Sebastián, Spain. Project co-financed by the European Commission's Daphne III programme.[32]
  • 2012: England Uncensored, White Cloth Gallery, Leeds, UK[33]

Exhibitions at festivals
  • 2010: Drinking of England was exhibited at GetxoPhoto photography festival, Getxo, Bilbao, Spain[34]
  • 2011: England Uncensored – A Decade of Photographing the English
  • 2011: Visa pour l'image festival of photojournalism, Perpignan, France[1][5]
  • 2011: Periscopio festival of photojournalism, Vitoria, Spain[35]
  • 2011: Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK (video installation)[36]
  • 2013: The British Abroad, The International Photoreporter Festival #2, Saint-Brieuc, France;[37] POP Galleries, Hull International Photography Festival, Hull, UK, October 2015[38][39]
  • 2016: Alcohol & England, Hull International Photography Festival, Hull, UK, October 2016.[40]

Short films
  • Cosplay (2011) with Ben Turner[41]
  • The War & Peace Show (2011) with Ben Turner[42]

Notes
  1. The publication date printed in the book is 2014 but the book was actually published in 2015.
  2. Its web page is www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/suited-and-booted.
  3. Its web page is www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/suited-and-booted.

References
  1. "Peter Dench Q&A". London: The Daily Telegraph. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. Hamblett, Jennifer (17 October 2011). "A Decade of Winks and Winces". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  3. "Hungry Eye News: It's A Merry Denchmas". Hungry Eye. 22 December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  4. "Street Photography: Peter Dench". Photography Monthly. 24 November 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  5. Laurent, Olivier (29 August 2011). "Visa pour l'Image: Peter Dench's England". British Journal of Photography. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  6. "Interviste". December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  7. "About Us". Refocus. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  8. Carleton, Will (26 January 2012). "Peter Dench Is Now at Reportage". Photo Archive News. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  9. Louth, Sean (1 June 2010). "Football international". British Journal of Photography. Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  10. Simon Roberts (19 August 2009). "Carry On England by Peter Dench". Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  11. "Peter Dench". Pro Solutions 2011: Seminars. Speakers. Canon UK. 2011. Archived from the original on 16 December 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  12. Here at Professional Photographer.
  13. "The Dench Diary". Professional Photographer. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  14. "Peter Dench – Someone's had their Weetabix". World Photography Organisation. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  15. "Saatchi Online Artist: Peter Dench". Saatchi Online. 4 October 2010. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  16. "Project: Barclays Wealth – Photographer: Peter Dench". Locate Productions. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  17. "Crowdfunding platform Emphas.is goes insolvent amid internal conflicts". British Journal of Photography. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  18. "UK Uncensored by Peter Dench". Emphas.is. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  19. Laurent, Olivier (2013). "Country in flux". British Journal of Photography. Apptitude Media. 160 (7814): 80–81.
  20. "Photographer Peter Dench has launched an eBook, in..." Reportage by Getty Images. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  21. "Joop Swart Masterclass 10 years". World Press Photo. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  22. "Interview with Peter Dench – Photographer of the Month". World Photography Organisation. 14 September 2010. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  23. "2002, Peter Dench, 3rd Prize, People in the News stories". World Press Photo. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  24. "Sport winners". Photography Masters Cup. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  25. "The Central European House of Photography in..." Reportage by Getty Images. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  26. "Art Bermondsey Project Space opens with 'Dench does Dallas'". Olympus Corporation. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  27. "Dench Does Dallas". The Gallery at Munro House. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  28. "Foto8 Summer Show Exhibition Catalogue" (PDF). Foto8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  29. "Summershow 2008: In Summary". Foto8. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  30. Dodd, James (24 June 2010). "Foto8 Summer Show 2010". Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  31. "Letters From Europe". Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  32. "England Uncensored at White Cloth Gallery". Professional Photographer. 19 July 2012.
  33. "GetxoPhoto 2010: El Elogio Del Ocio". 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  34. Valderrama, Paco. "Introduction: Something for Everyone". Periscopio Vitoria-Gasteiz. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  35. "England Uncensored: a decade of photographing the English". Format Festival. 4 March – 3 April 2011. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  36. "Peter Dench". Festival Photoreporter. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  37. "2015 Exhibitions". Hull International Photography Festival. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  38. "Hull international photography festival - in pictures". The Guardian. London. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  39. "Alcohol & England (HIP Festival Exhibition) by Peter Dench". HIP Gallery. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  40. Here at Vimeo.
  41. Here at Vimeo.
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