Who are the English? And what images spring to mind when you think of the English and England? Ask a tourist and they would probably say Big Ben, English 'bobbies', the London Eye or maybe even the Queen. Ask a Scot, Welshmen or Irishman and you may get a different answer. However, ask an Englishman (or woman) and you will probably get more intimate (and printable) answers ...mowing the lawn, going down the pub or maybe braving the beach on a frigid summer's day. Ask Chris Steele-Perkins and he'll have a multitude of answers and what's more, as an internationally acclaimed and award-winning Magnum photographer of 40 years standing he has the images to share. In his new book, Chris presents a sweeping, unique record of what he thinks makes England truly English. From Sunday cricket matches to snoozes in a deckchair; intimate family portraits to carefree children at play; circus shows with performing bears to the wilder performers of a street carnival; and from Saturday night dancing to race riots. Each picture tells a story of time and place and many of the images collected will strike a chord or a memory in the viewer. These natural and authentic photographs are a personal selection of the best and most important of Chris's images that he has taken over 40 years of photographing in England. Some are drawn from books he has made on English themes, others from stories he has worked on, others from pictures of family and friends, from random events encountered. This book is an honest testament to this odd but magnificent country that is England, the England of the people.

It was the amazing statistic that there are over 10,000 people aged over 100 in the UK that grabbed Chris Steele-Perkins’ attention – and that number is growing rapidly. The Office of National Statistics predicts that 5% of people alive today in the UK will live to be over 100. That is 3 million people. However, this book is not about statistics and the implications, it is about the people. In Fading Light Chris creates a portrait of this new generation with beautiful photographs and moving interviews. They are a mixed bunch of people who have seen many changes throughout their lives and who have their own personal stories to tell. Fading Light is a moving book which highlights a special group of people who are part of the growing band of centenarians.

Returning to the North East in 2001 to document the Durham Coalfield, at one time the heartland of the British coal industry, Chris Steele-Perkins found himself in that exurban culture that we now associate with "Billy Elliot". This world of "lamping" (for rabbits), ferreting, whippet racing, grouse shooting, pigeon fancying and the rearing of birds of prey is a survival of what D. H. Lawrence once described as "a curious cross between industrialism and the old agricultural England of Shakespeare and Milton.
Chris Steele-Perkins has memorably recorded this with visual wit, and a constant eye for the extraordinary. Nor is he at all sentimental: the harsh realities of blood-stained slaughter-houses and the vandalism of fly-tipping in the open countryside aren't excluded.

His photographs, he says, "serve as both eulogy and elegy".

Amateur Photographer Magazine wrote: ...his unique style pours from every page. This time he has captured northern rural life with humour and a tough grittiness associated not only with his documentary photography, but also with many of the people he aimed his camera at. One for the shelf of photo fans - and you don't have to be a 'flat-cap' to enjoy it.

All extracts taken from  http://www.chrissteeleperkins.com

 art and photography