Paul Edmond bio

Paul Edmond 1st Sept 1961 - 26th Nov 2015

Paul was born in Handsworth Wood, Birmingham. He went to school locally and then attended Repton school as a boarder until he left to study his A-levels at Matthew Boulton College in Birmingham.

Paul had a part-time job at Dixons electrical store in Birmingham town centre where he acquired his first camera in 1979. It soon became apparent that he had a gift and as a young photographer and lover of music, fashion and nightclubs, Paul started taking pictures of bands, artists, designers and revellers on the Birmingham club scene. Paul was a one-off, his talent unique and he had an eye for a great shot even though he was just a kid in Brum, a teenager with a camera on him at all times.

It was an exciting time as punk had morphed into New Wave and the New Romantic movement was exploding. Paul snapped everything and everyone that moved on the Birmingham club scene in legendary clubs such as the Rum Runner on Broad Street, The Holy City Zoo under the railway arches and the Cedar club on Constitution Hill. The Rum Runner was the home of Duran Duran; they rehearsed there and also worked and DJ’d there. The managers of the club, brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, were also the Duran Duran management team so Paul was documenting not only youth and pop culture as it was during that period but also a new strand of the music business as it emerged.

Paul became a regular contributor to the weekly national music paper Sounds and his work spread to many other publications of the time. He photographed Duran Duran in their very early days when they were recording their first single Planet Earth in Chipping Norton studios and he captured many of their live performances too. There is an intimacy and realism in Paul’s early work and the band always treasured these photos. Nick Rhodes said of him, “Paul definitely got the best pictures from that period. He had a real eye. He was around at the right time and the right place, and he got it. These pictures are great, they’re a real time capsule,” while Andy Taylor simply remembers Paul as “a lovely guy.“

Duran Duran used Paul’s pictures from this period for their 40th anniversary merchandise and Paul’s work has been featured worldwide in many exhibitions and TV shows and he was very proud to have worked with so many of his idols, especially Bryan Ferry, The Clash, The Jam, Annie Lennox, Spandau Ballet and Culture Club.

It wasn’t, however, just people that Paul immortalised with his art. In 1985 he moved to Penzance where he photographed the beautiful Cornish landscapes, adoring a life by the sea. He launched a series of postcards, Cornish View, capturing the magic of the area and spent many happy years there with his little family, Jennie and Daisy. Like his father, Barry, he was a keen fisherman and would spend hours out at sea and on the pier, fishing being his other passion alongside photography.

After Paul’s period in Cornwall came to an end, he lived abroad in different places working as a film cameraman but returned to the UK to set up his studio in Brighton where he continued to work with bands and artists and also launched a second set of art postcards, London Calling, photographs of famous locations, historic buildings and street culture. He was a trend setter with his early sepia-toned cards and their magnificent, magical skies.

Paul was based in Brighton for 10 years until 2015 when he decided to return to Spain, a country he had always loved. He stayed in Baiona in Galicia for a while and then as that summer came to an end he headed off on a road trip in his beloved sports car, staying in Lisbon and then on to Essaouira in Morocco.

Late at night under a full moon on 26th November 2015 Paul was killed in a head-on collision with a cement truck. The eventual UK inquest determined that he was not at fault for the accident.

Paul leaves behind him a huge archive of brilliant work. He touched the hearts of so many and was loved by so many. “A true gentleman with the most generous spirit” is how his friends and people he worked with described him. He lives on through his work.

Maggie K de Monde

Paul Edmond Gallery