In the nineteen-seventies and eighties, the British photographer Brian Griffin became a sought-after star in two seemingly disparate fields: business and rock music. His style suited both clienteles well. His portraits were heavy on contrast, all murky shadows and overwhelming columns of light, strange props, surreal situations, and the stoic, unfazed look on a subject’s face. He brought a bit of whimsy to management journals and corporate brochures, rendering stoic, Thatcher-era captains of industry as characters in a noir film. The rest of Griffin’s time was occupied by a different challenge: how to turn seemingly mythological figures, like Elvis Costello or Iggy Pop, back into everyday people.
When arriving in London in 1972, Brian Griffin received an assignment from the English magazine Management Today to photograph the working world. For Griffin, failure was hiding everywhere. Even though the artistic director ( formerly of Camera, a trilingual photo-magazine) often compared him to Robert Frank, nothing satisfied Brian Griffin. People posed motionless before the camera.
