The Hot Shots

Meet the seven photographers whose iconic images will be seen for the first time in the pages of Isle of Wight Festival 1970, ‘Six Days That Rocked The World’ 

Bob Aylott.  Started work in Fleet Street in 1964 as a15 year old tea boy with The Sport&General Press Agency. He moved to the darkrooms at Fox Photos and then became a photographer in 1967 with Keystone Press Agency. In 1968 he was named British News Photographer of the Year and joined the Daily Sketch as a freelance. He later moved to the Daily Mail and then the National Enquirer in America. After traveling the world and winning many accolades including a British Colour Photo Story of the Year and a World Press Photo Award for his prison pictures of Charles Manson he returned to Fleet Street in 1987 to join Express Newspapers.

Bryn Campbell.   Has had a varied career as photographer, picture-editor, lecturer, judge and writer. He’s worked on a succession of photo-magazines and then picture-edited 'The Observer' and 'The Telegraph Magazine'. A widely traveled award winning photographer, he has written several books on the work of other photographers. He also wrote and presented the six-part BBC TV series 'Exploring Photography'. Over the years, he’s became involved with photographic education and assisted in the work of many national and international organisations, such as the RPS, the Arts Council, World Press Photo and 'Photographers International' magazine, Taiwan. Bryn won the News picture of the Year in 1969 and was the official photographer on the British Headless Valley Expedition and Transglobe Expedition 1979-82.

Ken Beken was born in Cowes in 1951. Leaving Ryde School he enrolled on a 3 year photography course at the Salisbury College of Art. After one year, students had to choose a more defined speciality and it was decided that Ken should return to Cowes to study with his father Keith & become the third generation of Marine Photographers in the family firm after his Grandfather Frank (1880-1970) & Keith (1914-2007). By the age of 19 years he was photographing on the Solent waters off Cowes, in Europe, the USA & Caribbean covering regattas as Antigua Race Week. In 1976 aged 25 years he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. After 40 years of photography, he has seen the changes of using an 8x6” glass plate camera to the current Canon Eos 1dsMkII digitals. His Grandfather started darkroom printing using a day light powered horizontal enlarger and the early photographs of sailing yachts fetch over £1,000 at London auctions. Today the accent is on action colour photography and Ken appreciates the changeover to digital photography whilst also admitting that they are now obtaining better results from a scanned glass plate than they achieved from the traditional darkrooms. 

Bob Mazzer.  From second generation Jewish immigrant parents, he was born in London’s east end in 1948 to a cab driver dad and a Mancunian mother. His first camera was a Barmitzvah gift and he began photographing family, friends and the local area. After studying photography at Hornsey College of Art in the mid 1960’s he became a freelance documentary photographer. His work has been published in newspapers and magazines around the world, with acclaimed exhibitions at the London Photographers Gallery, Serpentine Gallery and a prestigious showing at Arles in France in 1976. His distinctive style of street photography has turned heads in the fine art world with prints selling in Paris galleries. After settling down with partner Jen and their two children, he began photographing life on the London Underground which has now become a life time project. His pictures from beneath London have been widely exhibited and published.

Mike Hardy. Born in London in 1937 Mike had wanted to go to art collage, but instead followed in his father’s rather large footsteps and at the age of 17 went into photography. Dad, Bert Hardy a top photographer on Picture Post landed his son a job as a messenger/tea boy on the magazine.Mike’s first success came when a photography magazine published a four page photo story on the life and times of a south London paper boy. In 1958 he joined the Daily Express in Fleet Street as a news photographer and soon became their staff man based in Paris. By 1965 he was back in London and worked as a contract documentary photographer for the new Weekend Telegraph Colour Magazine. He has travelled the world on both news and feature assignments shooting in colour and black and white for major newspapers and international magazines. He later became Picture Editor on Women Own Magazine and retired to the Isle of Wight in 1998.

Doug White. A professional marine engineer and radar technician all his life, it’s always been photography and cameras that have been his passion. Born in Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1938 his interest in photography came from his late mother Violet Maude, who he always dedicates his, pictures too. Ranked as a semi professional Doug is one of the very few photographers to have covered all three early Island festivals 1968-69-70.  Shooting black and white photos of the early rockers, his images have now become historic pop memorabilia. With an eye for a picture and composition his photos have scooped many awards including being a finalist in an international competition to find the Photographer of the Year. He still continues to photograph the Island rock festivals to this day.

Chris Weston. Born in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight in 1946 Chris has been an electrician for most of his working life. His passion for photography began at the age of 12 years when he started to use his father’s camera. His early photographs were mostly of his family, friends and locals island scenes. Later he would take pictures of his other loves, that of shark fishing off the Needles and playing golf on any course he found around the world. But his longest running hobby is still photography. Working as an electrician at the festival he was in a privileged position, and was the only serious photographer to record the early days and the construction of the site. His panoramic shot of the festival from Afton Down has sold around the world.