Book Review:

As society catapults further into the digital age, seeing images printed and bound in books becomes rarer and rarer. Yet, every week I must digest thousands of photographs scrolling through the BIPP’s social media feeds and sourcing content for the upcoming magazine. So it was a pleasant surprise when I got a phone call from over the pond from Philip Bermingham, an English-born photographer who, after working the beat as a police officer in Liverpool, emigrated to the States and, in 1980, opened his first photography studio in Washington, D.C.

After our chat, where we shared a connection to the city of Liverpool and our love of photography, the next week, a humungous, beautifully printed book arrived at the BIPP office from the Washington-based photographer made up of his career portfolio working in America’s capital. Alongside his work as a photographer, Philip has sat on several boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and is an Honorary Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Spanning forty years, the book Portraiture: On the Job displays portraits representing the plethora of individuals who have lived in or visited Washington, D.C. When you open the weighty hardback and look inside, you notice the eclectic collection could not have been made in any other city and is indeed a snapshot in time of the prominent faces of an era, including some of the most infamous figures of the 20th century, from Richard Nixon to beloved comedian and talk show host, Jay Leno.

Philip says, “The steady stream of interesting faces from every walk of life, from politicians to private families, provided me with a diverse clientele. I got to travel far-flung destinations to photograph families in their favourite vacation spots to good samaritans hard at work.”

Throughout his career taking portraits, the Washington-based practitioner says his photography serves as an international passport, allowing him to capture images in the desert of the United Arab Emirates and remote indigenous regions of Australia to taking prolonged visits to the tiny Caribbean islands of Mustique as part of the World Pediatric Project, and trips to the island of St. Vincent to document volunteer doctors and their team providing medical surgeries and training.

Bermingham’s inherent ability to relax the subject to capture exceptional portraits is reflected in the connection made with his sitter in each photo in the collection made whilst On the Job.

You can buy the book on Amazon.

If you would like a personalized signed copy, please contact the studio directly at Philip@philipbermingham.com