Peter Dench (born 23 April 1972)[1] is a British photojournalist working primarily in advertising, editorial and portraiture.[1][2][3] His work has been published in a number of books.
Biography
Dench was born and grew up in Weymouth, Dorset.[4] He graduated from the University of Derby with a degree in Photographic Studies in 1995 and has been working as a photojournalist since 1998.[4] He currently lives in Crouch End, London.
Dench spent a decade documenting England, which he split into the following themes:[4][5]drinkUK, ethnicUK, rainUK, loveUK, royalUK, summerUK, fashionUK, and Carry on England.
He was a member of the photo agency Independent Photographer's Group (IPG) from 2000 until the company's closure in 2005.[6][7] In January 2012 he joined Reportage by Getty Images as one of their Represented Photographers[8] (later known as Getty Verbatim).
Around 2007 Dench spent 15 months photographing Football's Hidden Story in 20 countries as a commission for FIFA, documenting "the way in which the sport thrives in the most improbable circumstances and in which enthusiasm for the game is being harnessed for the good of the community".[9]
A Day Off in the Lives of Europe is a project in which he photographed people around Europe commemorating events of national significance.
Dench says of his work:
I’m always looking for humour in my pictures. Charlie Chaplin is a big influence and I often try to address serious subjects in a humorous way when appropriate. My aim is to make people laugh, make people think. Looking through the books of Elliott Erwitt and Martin Parr is the reason I got into photography. If you can travel the world making people laugh and making them think, then to me that's a fine way to live.[4]
The Visa pour l'image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France, has screened Dench's work five times (including Carry On England in 2009[10]) and exhibited it once.[5]
He was described in 2011 as a contributing editor of Hungry Eye magazine and creative director of White Cloth Gallery in Leeds, which he founded with co-creative director Sharon Price.[11] He was a contributor to Professional Photographer magazine podcasts 1 to 13 in 2010/2011.[12] His monthly Dench Diary appeared in Professional Photographer in 2010/11[13] and in Hungry Eye from 2011.
Dench's advertising commissions have appeared on billboards and bus stop posters, in corporate brochures and in newspapers, including campaigns for Weetabix,[14] Barclaycard,[15] Barclays Wealth,[16] Suzuki, the British Heart Foundation, Danish Bacon and Maxim magazine.
In February 2012 Dench successfully used the Emphas.is visual journalism crowd funding website to raise funds for his first book, England Uncensored,
[17][18] published in May 2012.
For 6 months in 2013 he collaborated with Reportage by Getty Images on the Future of Britain project, commissioned by OMD UK. Dench photographed the country to accompany OMD's research and statistics on the long-term economic downturn and changes to its population and demographics, published on a blog throughout the period.[19]
In 2015 he founded The Curators with co-founder Director Sharon Price, curating and touring photography exhibitions and Photo North Festival across the UK
The Dench Diary: The Diary of a Sometimes Working Professional Photographer. Eastbourne: United Nations of Photography, 2013. ISBN978-1-909135-11-6. Edition of 250 copies.[20]
Roadside Diners, July 1998 selected for National Portrait Gallery's John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, London, 1999
George, Naturist, Palm Springs, October 2000 selected for National Portrait Gallery, John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, London, 2001
1 of 12 photographers selected to take part in World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass 2002[22]
3rd prize, People in the News category, World Press Photo Award, 2002 for Drinking of England[11][23]
Marquesa deVarela, social fixer for Hello! magazine, April 2003 selected for National Portrait Gallery's Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize, London, 2003
1st place, Sport category, Football in Liberia, 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup, International Color Awards, 2009[24]
Football's Hidden Story, Liberia, The Foto8 Summershow, 2008[29][30]
2 images from loveUK, The Foto8 Summershow, 2010[31]
Letters from Europe, Ernest Lluch Cultural Center, San Sebastián, Spain, 2011. One of six contributing photographers. Project co-financed by the European Commission's Daphne III programme.[32]
The British Abroad, The International Photoreporter Festival #2, Saint-Brieuc, France, 2013;[37] POP Galleries, Hull International Photography Festival, Hull, UK, 2015[38][39]
Alcohol & England, Hull International Photography Festival, Hull, UK, 2016.[40]
