The Oxford Pictures 1968-1978

Paddy Summerfield’s images of Oxford students are a nostalgic look at days gone by. Yet beneath them lies an uneasy melancholy, as Oliver Atwell finds out

- Paddy Summerfield

If the 1960s were a time of British ‘boy-done-good’ photographers exploding onto the glamorous international scene, then the 1970s seemed to move in a somewhat opposite direction. It was around this time that a series of photographers came to the fore who were undaunted by the idea of almost turning the camera inwards and creating a much more personal vision of the world around them.

This is perhaps largely a response to the numerous photographers from the USA, who demonstrated that deep beauty could be found in the everyday. William Eggleston, for example, who, with just a simple image of a light bulb on a red ceiling, showed budding photographers that if they open their eyes a little wider they could find photographic opportunities everywhere. Add to that list Robert Frank, Walker Evans and Edward Weston, and you begin to see how a young photographer may have been inspired to take a fresh, almost uncharted approach to photography.

Photographers undoubtedly became so much more aware of the camera in their hands. No longer did they have to slave to commercial media briefs to make images. They could actually just make images as a form of self-expression.