• Born: 1927 in Deal Kent

• Street Photographer

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"I've had no education whatsoever: I successfully

ran away from every school I ever went to.

I studied photography just by doing it."

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Apparently a chance meeting in the 1950's with
John Deakin from vogue was sufficient to convince

Chapman to leave his newspaper job and head to

Paris to pursue his passion for photography.

He moved into the Beat Hotel in the Latin Quarter

of Paris where a mix of like minded artists had gathered.  This allowed Chapman to shoot in a natural style as an observer and without intervention. Learning his skill through magazines and newspapers. His work appears to be in three key parts.
 

1. Paris in the 1950's - Photographing daily life of the generally less affluent Parisians

2. London in the 1960's - Photographing the swinging 60's

3. His local area of Kent from daily life to the mods and rockers at Margate

Chapman once said "I can only repeat the advice that Cartier-Bresson once gave me, 'Be honest to your subjectivity".

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I was fortunate enough to purchase a couple of his images and meet him at a recent exhibition and talk at the Linden Hall Studio in Deal.

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In 2010 the Guardian did an interesting interview and short film on Chapmans work. 

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The other interview worth looking on the Blues GR site

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