Derek D'Souza

Renowned Music and Personality Photographer

Derek D’Souza

Famous for photographing gigs over the last 40 years, Derek D’Souza also covers many more genres of photography, from commercial work, to portraits, to location work, weddings and event photography.

His work has been published in the Music press, magazines, books and is frequently used to promote concerts. He is the nominated photographer for All Mod Icon magazine and has had several front covers to date. His photos have also appeared on many CD/record sleeves and he has been featured in a number of major exhibitions.

Derek has also published two sold-out books: ‘In The Crowd Images of The Jam’ in 2013 and ‘In Echoed Steps, The Jam and a Vision Of Albion’, and his latest book “In The Crowd – The Jam Snapped” is close to selling out just a few months after release.

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PHOTOGRAPHING SOME OF THE BIGGEST ARTISTS OVER THE GENERATIONS

The bands and artists Derek has photographed include: The Jam, The Style Council, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, The Rifles, The Stranglers, From The Jam, Ocean Colour Scene, The Specials, Tom Meighan, The 5,6,7,8’s, The Strypes, The Spitfires, Stone Foundation, 9 Below Zero, The Truth, U2, Paul McCartney, Ronnie Wood, The Bootleg Beatles, Squeeze, Thin Lizzy, Steve Marriott, The Faith Brothers, The Ramones, Billy Bragg, REM, Incognito, The Vapors, Paul Young, Wham!, The Small Fakers, Emily Cappell, Rews, The Pearl Harts, Hands Off Gretal, The Amazons, The Enemy, The Hunna, We Are Yonaka, Nancy & The Dolls, Louise Turner, The Electric Stars, French Boutik, Dr Bird, The Sha La La La’s, and more recently discovering a host of up and coming bands and artists, including Nadia Sheikh, Georgia Crandon, and last but not least The Molotovs.

RECENT CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

In 2012 I held my first photographic exhibition ‘Absolute Luck’ at Tapestry, an intimate gallery in London’s Soho, featuring images of The Jam, this was attended by over 600 people over 5 nights.

2013 saw the publication of my first book, a collection of photographs of The Jam ‘In The Crowd’ which has been well received by the band and Jam fans.

2014 one of my photographs of The Jam has been chosen for display in The National Portrait Gallery.

2015 I was involved with the successful “About The Young Idea” The Jam exhibition at Somerset House, was a contributor to the accompanying “Growing Up With The Jam” book, and appeared in the Jam Documentary “About The Young Idea”

2017 “In Echoed Steps, The Jam and a Vision Of Albion” was published in August, a collaboration with artist and designer Paul Skellett, and writer Simon Wells – the book sees new life breathed into some old images and features a mixture of colour and BW and seen and unseen images.

2022 ‘In The Crowd’ 40th anniversary edition released, including 50 new and unseen photographs.

2022 – ‘True is The Dream’ Exhibition at The Barbican Music Library – Photography and Music Memorabilia of The Jam, The Style Council and Paul Weller’ by photographer Derek D’Souza. The exhibition will consist largely of photographs and memorabilia of The Jam, but also include items from Paul Weller’s time in The Style Council and solo careers.

BIOGRAPHY

My dad bought me my first ‘proper’ camera when I was 19, a Petri MF-1, a manual camera so a great way to learn the basics.

By late ’79 I was going to more and more gigs, and was enjoying photography – it seemed a natural step to combine two of passions of my life? I mean how hard could it be…..?

After a disastrous start, results improved and I learned how to get the best out of the equipment I had, which has changed several times over the years.

Taking photos under stage lighting conditions, is one of the most challenging, you are in with thousands of fans, everything, and everyone is moving – the lights and colours are constantly changing, and the light is rarely bright enough!

Over the years I have photographed many bands and artists, I generally concentrate on working closely with a few bands.

While I continue to take photographs at gigs and still love the thrill of getting ‘That shot’ I have expanded my repertoire to cover many more genres of photography, from commercial work, to portraits, to location work, weddings and event photography.