Interview With Brian Griffin – Circa 1978

[nadimpr]

I spoke with Brian about his upcoming exhibition.
How did the original book, Circa 1978 come about in the first place?

Circa 1978 was the first self-published photography book – it is cheaply printed with just two staples holding it together! I was working as an editorial photographer at the time and met the designer, Barney Bubbles when I was shooting the album cover for Parkarilla by Graham Parker and the Rumour. (We shot on the South Bank, with Graham looking like a gorilla!) Stiff Records were using Barney as their designer, and I had loved the minimal thumbnail line drawings he was doing for Johnny Moped in the NME. It was a total coincidence that we met.

I wanted to do a book and Barney was happy to collaborate with me. I explained what each photo meant to me and Barney illustrated each one with a line drawing around it. There was no shading or colouring in – just a plain line drawing with each shot.




Tell me about some of the shots included in the book
The book was a collection of my editorial work, with a little bit of rock and roll thrown in! It includes my shot of a ballroom dancer, shot in 1972, which got me my job with Management Today. (Brian joined the staff of Management Today in 1972 and worked extensively with Art Director Roland Schenck, allowing him to fully hone his craft.) There are photographs taken for Management Today, Accountancy Age, Campaign and Car magazine. There's a shot of a very young Simon Callow and work for album covers for the artists Devo and The Pop Group.




Source: https://contrastly.com/interview-with-brian-griffin-circa-1978/