Chris made the cover photograph for Ian Dury’s New Boots and Panties album, and Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model LP, and shot many other 1970s new wave acts.

“I first became interested in photography at the age of thirteen. This ‘interest’ rapidly became an obsession and I decided to make it my career. I studied Photography at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art. During my first year at college I was introduced, by a neighbour, to one of the top advertising photographers in this country, John Garrett. I worked for John for three years, where we shot everything from frozen peas to nudes, Joanna Lumley to trucks, and beef-burgers to Rolls-Royces. John was a marvellous teacher and has since written successful books on photography. However, it was when John moved into photojournalism and started covering the Vietnam War (which relegated me to darkroom work and picture editing) that I decided to leave.

In 1975 I decided to rent premises in Camden Town in which to build a studio and darkroom. The completion of work on my studio coincided with the birth of Stiff Records, which was the brainchild of Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. I photographed nearly all the Stiff acts over the next two or three years, including Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and The Dammed. I also worked for other Record Labels taking pictures of The Stranglers, Blondie, The Buzzcocks and many, many others, both here and in the USA.”

Chris Gabrin’s limited edition photographs are available to purchase in a range of physical sizes.