Rare Radiohead portraits to go on show in London

Edge, who runs the North London Darkroom, is a leading exponent of the 19th century Wet Collodion photographic process. Using sheets of treated glass in place of film in the camera, the process is far removed from modern day methods. The process is long and arduous, with all the images shot by his hand built Hurricane camera (so named after the great storm of 1987 which its Chestnut frame is made from). The camera will be displayed at the private viewing and launch event at Metropolis Studios on 13 October.

Having set up North London Darkroom in Tottenham in 2012 as a place for the progressive photographers to have access to specialist darkroom facilities, it is possibly the best space in London for archival Black and White printing. It is this distinctive method that led to Edge working with Radiohead in 2011.

Edge explains “In January 2011, I received a call from Radiohead HQ, they’d heard about a photographer that was making pictures with this early Victorian process, with a camera built from Hurricane timber, and wondered if I was still making pictures having disappeared from the music scene for a while.”

He continues, “Within a few weeks I arrived at their studio and spent two separate days making the pictures for their King Of Limbs campaign. A day in the woods and a day at their studio. Colin, loved it, being a photographer himself. And after a while I think they realised these weren’t just photos they are works of hard crafted art and as analogue and as hands on as it could possibly get!”

As Sebastian’s portrait shot became familiar to millions of fans, what we didn’t see was the result of the other pictures the band sat for but were not released to the public. Until now.

Now, five years on, the exhibition will provide a unique and rare opportunity for die-hard Radiohead appreciators to own original art prints of the band, in an exclusive edition of just three 8-foot-long portrait sets.

In addition to the Radiohead image, Edge will also show further images including band photos of The Arthur Brothers, Mars Volta as well as a series of images entitled Studies Of Metropolis.

A portion of funds raised through the exhibition will go to support Proactiva Open Arms, an NGO from Badalona (Barcelona, Spain) who are dedicated to saving lives in the sea (most recently helping refugees that arrive to the Greek coast).

Following the private viewing and launch event on 13 October, the exhibition, which is invite only, runs from 14 October onwards at Metropolis Studios.