{"id":93124,"date":"2016-08-22T15:56:07","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T14:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amateurphotographer.co.uk\/?p=93124"},"modified":"2016-08-22T18:21:05","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T17:21:05","slug":"tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colin O\u2019Brien, who has reportedly died at the age of 76, had work reviewed in newspapers including The Times<\/em>, Telegraph<\/em>, Guardian<\/em> and Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

His images of working class London in the 1950s and \u201960s included photos of run-down buildings and children playing unsupervised in the street.<\/p>\n

One of his 1960s b&w photos famously graced the cover of the first edition of the novel Alfie<\/em>, written by his childhood friend Bill Naughton.<\/p>\n

Colin\u2019s photographic journey began when he took a picture of two Italian friends in Clerkenwell, with a Box Brownie in 1948, aged eight.<\/p>\n

Spitalfields Life<\/a><\/em>, which published much of Colin\u2019s work, today paid tribute to the photographer, saying that he died unexpectedly last week.<\/p>\n

Writing under the name \u2018the gentle author\u2019, a friend of Colin\u2019s, wrote: \u2018Colin once said to me that while Don McCullin went away to photograph war and David Bailey occupied himself with fashion and celebrities, he had stayed at home and simply photographed the life of people on the street.<\/p>\n

\u2018A purist who managed to resist any commercial imperative or editorial intervention, Colin took only the photographs he pleased, resolutely pursuing his own personal interests and focusing particularly upon the everyday lives of Londoners.\u2019<\/p>\n

Among a long list of tributes on the Spitalfields Life<\/em> website is one by renowned photographer John Claridge who wrote: \u2018Very very sad news. A great loss!\u2019<\/p>\n

Another fan of his street photography, Janice P, added: \u2018I adored Colin\u2019s work… His photos made me love London more\u2026 That we\u2019ll never see a new work from him is incredible.\u2019<\/p>\n

Much of Colin\u2019s early work was captured using a 1930s Leica camera given to him by a neighbour while he was in his teens.<\/p>\n

\u2018O\u2019Brien\u2019s photographs of working class life in the \u201950s and \u201960s are reminiscent of the early photojournalist approach published by magazines such as Picture Post<\/em>,\u2019 Leica said in a statement accompanying the opening of Colin\u2019s \u2018London Life\u2019 exhibition in the capital last year.<\/p>\n

\u2018For O\u2019Brien, the street becomes his stage and the passing scene a play in which we see people talking, dancing, miming and performing to an unseen audience,\u2019 added Leica.<\/p>\n

\u2018O\u2019Brien\u2019s camera in those early days was a Leica IIIa with a 3.5 [cm] Elmar lens.\u2019<\/p>\n

Speaking today, Leica UK managing director Jason Heward told Amateur Photographer<\/em>: ‘Colin was an incredibly talented photographer, and we were honoured to work with him when he exhibited his “London Life” work with us at the end of 2015, at the Leica Store City gallery.<\/p>\n

‘We were extremely sorry to hear this sad news, and our thoughts and condolences are with his family.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tributes have been paid to Colin O\u2019Brien, a photographer renowned for his street photos of London life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":93122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"product-category":[],"class_list":["post-93124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photo-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update) - Amateur Photographer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tributes have been paid to Colin O\u2019Brien, a photographer renowned for his street photos of London life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tributes have been paid to Colin O\u2019Brien, a photographer renowned for his street photos of London life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amateur Photographer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Amateur.photographer.magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-22T14:56:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-22T17:21:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Graye\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AP_Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AP_Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Graye\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan Graye\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1\"},\"headline\":\"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update)\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-22T14:56:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-22T17:21:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/\"},\"wordCount\":453,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Latest news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/\",\"name\":\"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update) - Amateur Photographer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-22T14:56:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-22T17:21:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1\"},\"description\":\"Tributes have been paid to Colin O\u2019Brien, a photographer renowned for his street photos of London life.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Latest\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Latest news\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/\",\"name\":\"Amateur Photographer\",\"description\":\"The world's number 1 weekly photo magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1\",\"name\":\"Megan Graye\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Megan Graye\"},\"description\":\"Megan Graye is a freelance journalist and content producer. On top of having written for publications such as The Independent, The V&A and Cosmopolitan, she has also founded her own non-profit organisation - VOCAL GIRLS - which promotes artists of marginalised genders in music.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/megan-graye-9a7791152\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/author\/mgraye\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update) - Amateur Photographer","description":"Tributes have been paid to Colin O\u2019Brien, a photographer renowned for his street photos of London life.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update)","og_description":"Tributes have been paid to Colin O\u2019Brien, a photographer renowned for his street photos of London life.","og_url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/","og_site_name":"Amateur Photographer","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Amateur.photographer.magazine","article_published_time":"2016-08-22T14:56:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-22T17:21:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Megan Graye","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AP_Magazine","twitter_site":"@AP_Magazine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Graye","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/"},"author":{"name":"Megan Graye","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1"},"headline":"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update)","datePublished":"2016-08-22T14:56:07+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-22T17:21:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/"},"wordCount":453,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg","articleSection":["Latest news"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/","name":"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update) - Amateur Photographer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-22T14:56:07+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-22T17:21:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1"},"description":"Tributes have been paid to Colin O\u2019Brien, a photographer renowned for his street photos of London life.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg","width":960,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/tributes-paid-london-street-photographer-colin-obrien\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Latest","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Latest news","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Tributes paid to London street photographer Colin O\u2019Brien (update)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/","name":"Amateur Photographer","description":"The world's number 1 weekly photo magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1","name":"Megan Graye","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Megan Graye"},"description":"Megan Graye is a freelance journalist and content producer. On top of having written for publications such as The Independent, The V&A and Cosmopolitan, she has also founded her own non-profit organisation - VOCAL GIRLS - which promotes artists of marginalised genders in music.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/megan-graye-9a7791152\/"],"url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/author\/mgraye\/"}]}},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2016\/08\/Colin-OBrien.web_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 10:13:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93124"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93136,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93124\/revisions\/93136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93124"},{"taxonomy":"product-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-category?post=93124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}