"I just try to take pictures that tell a story – perhaps in a candid and unconventional way. I think you can either see a picture or you can’t. I just capture the moment as it is."
Terry O'Neill was a British photographer, known for documenting the fashions, styles, and celebrities of the 1960s and 1970s. O’Neill’s exquisite and candid portraits of the celebrities and culture of that time helped to define the era and preserve it for the future. His photographs display his knack for capturing his subjects candidly or in unconventional settings stemming from his ability to fade into the background and exercise discretion.
His incisive photojournalism of creative and political luminaries, oftentimes in their most unguarded and early moments, has included Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, David Bowie, and many others. Helping to define backstage reportage, O’Neill worked closely with Frank Sinatra for over 30 years being granted privileged access to the legend, was with the Beatles and Rolling Stones in 1963. His other subjects include political figures such as Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela, contemporary icons such as Amy Winehouse and Nicole Kidman, many members of the British royal family, as well as every James Bond from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig.
O’Neill is the recipient of numerous awards, and in 2011 he was awarded the Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal. Terry O'Neill passed away in November 2019, but his legacy lives on.