We are very sorry to report the loss of one of the greats of photography and a man whom we have been proud to represent since opening John Claridge. John grew up in London’s East End and rose to become one of the photographers other photographers looked up to.

In the digital era in may ways he was sidelined. His work very much associated with the age of film when a lot more skill was required. He frequented The French House in Soho a watering hole favoured by many in the media industry, artists, eccentrics and other Soho hounds.

His portraits taken when he lived above Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club are still iconic.

We always describe John as a photographer’s photographer. It was they who would comment and admire on his work when visiting the gallery. To the public he was an unknown but in many ways that is how it should be. As Bailey said, if famous people carried a disease then photographers would catch it. There is no reason for the public to know John, he was not a fashion or celebrity photographer and thus out of the public eye. He did not particularly court the favour of galleries. It was as thouigh he felt he had nothing to prove .His work stands as his legacy.