John Bulmer
Bulmer, like other photojournalists, had been working with black and white film at the beginning of the 1960's but the launch of The Sunday Times Colour Magazine in 1962 heralded in a new era; and whilst the sudden switch to colour caught out some photographers, Bulmer made the adjustment seamlessly and became one of the magazine's key contributors. Trusted by other magazines too, such as The Observer, Town and Geo, Bulmer's commissions took him to the four corners of a greatly changing world – just as European countries were withdrawing from their colonies, tensions were amplified by the contradictory forces of communist governments simultaneously attempting to expand their empires in Africa, South America and South-East Asia.
John Bulmer – Elland, England 1965
“Photography is a form of abstraction in a way – you reduce everything until you have something that’s simple enough to give you an emotional kick. And when you add colour to that it creates an extra dimension that can be a distraction. I decided to shoot in winter. This way I could soften the images with rain and fog.”
John Bulmer – Bejing, China 1973
Bulmer's unerring eye was also to distill the essence of the very contradiction that gave rise to communism; of the extremes of wealth and poverty made possible by capitalism within a single nation – exploring this division at home first and then later in France and the USA. At a time when a photographer would often not know for many weeks, or even months, whether they had successfully captured the image they had seen in their mind's eye, timing was everything. Bulmer was clearly a master of this. His photographs continue to gain the recognition they deserve and have now been shown in many galleries throughout the world, including The Gallery of Modern Art in New York, the Galerie David Guirand in Paris, and The Photographer's Gallery and The Courtauld Institute in London.
John Bulmer – Lalibella, Ethopia 1965