Colin H New
Colin New was born in Alton, Hampshire but moved to Yorkshire in his late teens. This is where he now lives and works.
The son of a Portsmouth Dockyard worker - the recipient of a scholarship to public school - his first career was as an educationalist. His background and early experiences bred within him a burning desire to work with young people and use the creative arts to enrich their lives. Colin specialized in Primary Education and spent a number of years working in Primary Education.
His professional training was at Bretton Hall where he studied music, art and literature. This foundation was invaluable to his creative development as a photographer. Although all the clichés about childhood box brownies are true in his case, (for him it was a bakelite brownie 127 given to him by his father when he was 9) - it wasn’t until he chanced upon the work of John Blakemore that it dawned on him that photography might be something important. This meeting - combined with an exhibition of the work of Edward Weston in the local gallery in the same week - changed his life. These were the first times he had ever desperately wanted to own one of somebody else’s photographs. Prior to these events he had dabbled in the darkroom, but from the time he saw their work he decided he too must use photography to make his visual statements about the world in his own unique way.
Although self taught – Colin New became one of the country’s leading monochrome darkroom and colour digital printers. His limited edition prints are much sought after by collectors. He is an expert of the silver selenium and lith development process, and has given many master classes and presentations of his work. He has lectured for the Royal Photographic Society and at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. He has had “one man show” exhibitions in London, Harrogate and Bradford. In February 2004 he had an exhibition “Primary School” at the Millennium Gallery Sheffield. This show is moving on to Buxton Art Gallery in 2006.
Colin is a member of the highly prestigious London Salon of Photography and past Chairman of GAMMA. He now earns his living as a professional photographer. He is represented by Louise Ternay Pennsylvania USA and by the Trevillion Picture Library London.
At present Colin’s photographic sales are mostly through his American agent and print sales relating to exhibitions, galleries etc in the U.K. Although his work is now entirely digital he is able to draw upon a huge back catalogue of darkroom based images.
Photography for Colin New is a consuming passion - it dominates his life.
He specialises in photographing Educational Projects, Flowers, The Nude and The Land. “I photograph whatever gives me an emotional response. All my pictures are personal pictures - they are all autobiographical in some way or another - it’s a sort of hidden autobiography. My themes have chosen me - I have not selected them.”
Colin rarely combines his chosen themes. Most of his work with the Nude is studio based, where he enjoys working within a controlled environment. With Landscape he not only loves the beauty - but also the power and threat of the land. His intimate delicate flower studies have been enthusiastically embraced by his collectors – they have been described as “a delicious mixture of sensuality and form.” His educational work for LEA’s draws upon his wide experience as an educationalist.
He describes his heroes and influences, apart from John Blakemore and Edward Weston, as being Bill Brandt, Cartier Bresson, Mario Giacomelli, Josef Sudek and Sebastiao Salgado along with Edvard Munch, Eric Gill, the Pre- Raphaelites and Peter Greenaway.
Using the images
All the images on the site are copyright Colin H New and may not be used without his permission.
Any image shown on this website is available as a high-resolution collector print. (See here for details of sizes and ordering.)
Many of the images are also ideal for the making of prints, posters, greeting cards etc. Colin welcomes the approach of companies regarding the use of his pictures (Please use email as an initial point of contact.)