Why i have been photographing philosophers for the past 25 years

The New York Times have today published an article and slide show I wrote for The Stone, their philosophy blog that goes some way to explaining how i have been photographing philosophers for nearly 25 yrs now. - LINK HERE

And here is a link to my website which for the first time has all the photographs and statements from the first volume published in 1992. The second volume of Philosophers will be published in May by Oxford University Press. - LINK HERE

Professor David Wiggins, London, 4 September 1990 ©STEVE PYKE

Behind the scenes of 'Astonauts'

Dr Buzz Aldrin, Los Angeles, 1998 ©STEVE PYKE

Steve's 'Astronauts' series can be seen here on the website as well as accompanying text and quotes from many of the subjects Steve photographed.

This post is not about the images themselves but some footage from behind the scenes with video from

The Johnson Space Centre

Eugen Kranz

Walter Cunningham

Fred Haise

Alan L Bean

ALL VIDEOS CAN BE SEEN HERE

All clips taken from 'Moonbug' a film following Steve's travels as he photographed these icons of the 20th century. The film was made by Nichola Bruce and more information on the documentary can be seen here.

Tomothy Geithner photographed in Washington

I Recently photographed Obama's treasury Secretary at the treasury in Washington...

Timothy Geither ©2010 STEVE PYKE

Image in July Vanity Fair - Herman Cornejo

The following image is in this months Vanity Fair and from a shoot with Argentinian born ballet dancer Herman Cornejo


Image: Herman Cornejo ©2010 STEVE PYKE

Image featured in Sebastian Guinness Gallery exhibition

My Image of David Bryne is featured in 'Inspiration' an exhibition of photographs curated by Photographer Perry Ogden as part of the Photo Ireland Festival

See the Sebastian Guinness Galery for more information here
And the Photo Ireland website here

David Byrne, London 1985 ©2010 STEVE PYKE

Mike Huckabee for the New Yorker

There is a piece in this weeks New Yorker on possible
Rep candidate Mike Huckabee for next term as President with an image I took at his home in Little Rock

Mike Huckabee ©2010 STEVE PYKE

Jack and Duncan

Photographing both my sons Jack and Duncan from twenty minutes old and consistently since, I have been mapping the way human faces evolve.
The quotes below are taken from an interview on the series with Sean O'Hagan of The Observer, Sunday January 8, 2006
The images can be seen on the website including the full interview and slideshow here



















Duncan 1990-2006 ©STEVE PYKE

'I suppose you'd say I'm a bit obsessive, but there is always love in the making of these kinds of intimate photographs. I have another series of less formal family photographs which I call "Acts of Memory", in a way, every photograph is. Every image I make is about the person before the camera but it is also about the photographer. For a portrait to work, there has to be a connection between me and the subject. A conversation that takes place in an eighth of a second.'

'The more you make portraits, the more aware you become of that crucial instant and all that is contained in it. I tend to work quickly nowadays, it often seems to help provoke a spontaneity. Instinct is not all in photography, but it's a big part of it.'




















Jack 1988-2006 ©STEVE PYKE

The earliest photograph of Jack included here was taken when he was just 20 minutes old. ('I'm actually surprised he waited that long,' says Jack, only half-jokingly.) If all goes according to plan, the last photograph Steve will ever take, in the very face of his imminent death, will be a portrait of Jack. 'If that happens,' he says, as if he has given this some considerable thought, 'and who knows what might occur in between to stop it happening, it will then literally be a life's work. But more than that it will be a project that began when his life began and will end with my death. It's an odd one to take in sometimes.'

Jack on the images
'The really strange thing about these photographs, apart from the most recent ones, is that I don't remember any of them being taken,' says Jack. 'I might vaguely remember a shirt I was wearing, or a haircut I had, but that's all. Sometimes my dad will say to me, "Oh, that one was taken in Ireland or London in such and such a year," but I don't remember anything about the time or the place. It's odd because they're evidence of me growing up but they're also a bit unreal. The more I look at some of them, the more it feels like it never really happened.'