Peter Marlow: In Point of Fact

A veteran of the Sygma and Magnum agencies, Peter Marlow is the poet-cum-photographer of ‘non places’. His latest series, Point of Interest, takes Ryan Watson deep into the heart of Marlow country

For Peter Marlow it’s never about trying to find an excuse to get out of being somewhere. He sees his job, as one of Britain’s leading photojournalists, as the opposite. Seizing professional assignments as opportunities to complete various personal projects on the side, his uncompromising portfolio shows how he always has an excuse to be somewhere.

Marlow picked up his first camera at the age of five and set up a darkroom in the cellar of his West Country home a few years later. “Amusingly, my father used to keep all the wine down there so by the end of the evening our printing would get a bit shaky,” says the 59-year-old, who studied psychology at Manchester University in the early 70s. It was an era when, “if you were nice and middle class you automatically assumed you’d get a job”. Indeed, Marlow would end up cruising into his first post as a photojournalist.

Managing to get an interview with cruise ship photography firm Ocean Images, he borrowed a friend’s wedding photography portfolio and a week later found himself being flown to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to work aboard an Italian cruise liner.

That first trip has since paved the way for a successful international career including a three-month stint as chief photographer on the famous Queen Elizabeth II and other agency assignments in no less than 81 countries. “I love working in Japan,” he reveals. “While I’m there I hate working in Africa but then I think I’m glad I went when I get back. It’s a love-hate relationship.”

Using the money he’d saved during his time travelling between New York and Europe on the QE2, Marlow then travelled Central America, which led to a contract job with frontline photo-press agency, Sygma. Based out of London, covering Eastern Europe and Africa, he managed to do more travelling, but this time there were no leisurely days on Atlantic cruises.

Covering some of the most hostile conflict zones, including the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Northern Ireland in the late 70s and the Philippines revolt in the mid-80s, Marlow says that in those situations he strangely felt protected by the camera. These days though, he prefers to avoid the water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets due to life’s changing priorities: “I tried to stop all the bang-bang stuff when I had a child because I didn’t think it was fair.” He also knew Tim Hetherington (the photographer and documentary maker who recently lost his life in Libya) and despite getting
a thrill from covering these historical events, if ever there was a wake-up call, a tragedy such as that would be it.

He doesn’t regret those times. Becoming a Magnum photographer in 1981 was partly testament to his documentation of those conflicts and working for some of the world’s top magazines. But in his first few years at the agency he felt he was becoming a “generic photographer” and that his work wasn’t standing out enough. So he started to shoot in medium format and experiment with colour, discovering a new “texture in images and a greater range of tones”. After all, he “knew what light was all about by then”.

Marlow’s journey to achieve full-member status at Magnum included the usual gauntlet of portfolio presentations and despite the late fellow member, Philip Jones Griffiths, describing his decision to shoot medium as a “pity”; it allowed for a new release of creativity and style. The selection on these pages reinforce Marlow’s theory that he tends to do his best work in places where there isn’t a lot going on. The pneumatic drill stuck in the wall with what looks like blood surrounding its penetration was taken for a project during the Almeida Theatre’s refurbishment at Gainsborough studios in 2000. Ralph Fiennes had asked Marlow to produce a record of the conversion and the photographer responded with a limited-edition book which everyone involved received.

Another example is the image taken in Netherfield, Milton Keynes during a commission for the Evening Standard titled The Most Boring Towns in Britain. Some seeds were planted when the city was built in the 60s and have now grown into full trees in an interesting position, lodged against a row of houses. Marlow says it’s “purely about observation” and is “quite unconscious”.

Former Coastguard Lookout, however, depicts a busy meeting of toy figures. With arrangement courtesy of his son, Marlow says he just had to get a shot of the scene. Recently, he’s shot campaigns for British Airways and next year’s London Olympic games. He’s also been working on a series for the Royal Mail on English cathedrals to commemorate the 250th anniversary of St Paul’s. He’s developing the commission into a large-format personal project – his latest in a long line.

All the images are from his Point of Interest series, which is at The Wapping Project Bankside exhibition from 24 May-2 July