Eamonn McCabe has reinvented himself four times in his working life, shifting from rock and roll, to sports, to Guardian picture editor and now portraits … and is still wondering what is going to happen next.
Bjorn Borg: Eamonn McCabe1978
He tends to react to opportunities “when the phone rings”, currently photographing people in the arts and a series on writers’ rooms, commissioned by the Guardian’s Saturday review editor. These include Jane Austen, Raymond Briggs and Posy Simmonds, featured in Dulwich on View a year ago when she was giving a talk at the gallery.
McCabe is giving a talk covering 20 years of sports photography at Dulwich Picture Gallery on Wednesday February 11. More info. He’ll be showing many of his favourite sporting photographs and talking through what makes a good photograph. It is the last in the gallery Friends’ InSight photography lecture series.
He said he was very much enjoying the Writers Rooms and working with artists on his book, Artists and their Studios, published last year. His friend Maggi Hambling he has photographed four times. “They (artists) understand why you might want to take another photograph.”
He also joked that being in a creative environment might mean some of it rubbed off on him.
McCabe shoots on film most of the time, unless tight press deadlines dictate otherwise. “It’s like the difference between a fountain pen and a biro – a biro does the job, but there’s a resonance and strength (to film)”.
As for what’s next on the agenda, he just doesn’t know. Although he will turn down a job if it isn’t what he does best, McCabe is waiting to see what could be career shift number five.
Sports Photography: Catch the Moment, with Eamonn McCabe, Wednesday 11 February at 10.30am is part of the Insight Series: A Memorable Photograph, more info
Other talks in the series:
Photography, a Natural Eye, with Heather Angel, Wednesday 4 February
Author: Rebecca Portsmouth, a regular photographer for Dulwich OnView. Visit her website
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