Vernon Dewhurst photographed David Bowie for the op-art inspired album cover of Space Oddity and also took the photo in the above advert.
Vernon set up his photo studio in Dublin after graduating from Regent Street Polytechnic School of Photography in London, 1966. He worked in Ireland for over a year on many campaigns for Irish ad agencies, including Carrolls Major cigarettes and many fashion shoots including the above advert for Bests in 1968, before moving back to London where, for a while, shared a house with Bowie.
About the Bests Menswear advert, Vernon says… “the model was Tony Newton whom we got over from London. He was a top male model at the time, worked a lot as he looked like Sean Connery’s James Bond! Our clients at Peter Owens were very impressed…”
More on Vernon and Bowie’s Space Oddity here and on his own site here
marycigarettes
8 Jan 2017imagine going to ‘regent street polytechnic school of photography’ in the mid 1960’s…what blast that would have been. irish photographers are intriguing, cause they must surely have all ventured away to london for a while…that guy spud murphy who did the electric warrior sleeve….i always wonder who he is…. fun to imaging to a polytech on regent street…..lucky lucky students.
Vernon
8 Jan 2017It surely was Mary, not many colleges could claim to have Jimi Hendrix with Eric Clapton and Cream on stage for their autumn student dance. Jimi wasn’t even paid, just did it for the fun!
By the way i’m not Irish, but i love the place!
Hans Lignell
8 Jan 2017They certainly were fun times in the 60’s is London. I had a studio there in 1965 and it was as though the city was the capital of the world and all the latest trends started there. I was shooting mainly fashion, but then I came back to Dublin after a while and set up a studio in Mountjoy Square doing mostly fashion, but also some advertising and public relations work.
Cheryl
2 Jul 2017Hello Vernon, do you remember Cheryl and Martin in Paris? This is Cheryl saying ‘hello’ across time and space.