Abbey Road Studios will award British photographer David Bailey the Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual Music Photography Awards this week. The special one-off award recognizes Bailey’s contribution to music photography over the past six decades.
Bailey is known for capturing artists like Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, David Bowie, and Patti Smith throughout his career. “Everyone is going to take one great picture in their life and hopefully I’ll do two so I’ll have the edge,” Bailey said in a statement.
“Bailey’s photography broke boundaries with a dynamic, visceral and spontaneous style that was both defiant and pioneering,” Mark Robertson, Abbey Road’s Director of Marketing & Creative, said in a statement. “He turned his subjects into icons with era-defining pictures forever imprinted in the minds of fans, and yet somehow made them relatable and accessible by revealing their true personality. That his work has remained relevant and inspirational for over six decades is extraordinary, and that’s why we wanted to celebrate his continuing contribution to popular culture with this one-off special award.”
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The Abbey Road Music Photography Awards will be held at Abbey Road Studios in London on Oct. 2. The awards were founded in 2022 and span numerous categories, most of which are open for public entry. Last year, the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards attracted more than 22,000 entries from 30 different countries. This year’s awards will feature two new categories: Portrait and Festivals. The nominees were announced earlier this month.
As previously announced, Abbey Road will honor Dutch photographer, filmmaker, and music video director Anton Corbijn with the Icon Award during the ceremony. Previous winners of the Icon Award, selected by the Music Photography Awards’ judging panel, include Jill Furmanovsky in 2024, Henry Diltz in 2023, and Eric Johnson in 2022. This year’s judging panel include Rankin, Nile Rodgers, Eric Burton, Joe Keery, Scarlet Page, Dimitri From Paris, Julia Cumming, and Simon Wheatley.
