It is with great sadness that we report the news that Paul Caffell – a friend of PhotoBath – died on 18th February, 2017.
In 1988, Paul established 31 Studio, the first workshop dedicated to the platinum photographic printing processes since its decline in the early 1920s.
Paul, a successful painter and photographer, first came across examples of platinum prints through Pam Roberts, the archivist for the Royal Photographic Society, when it was still based at the Octagon, Bath. He immediately saw the potential of the process to render the most exquisite range of tones and the inertness of the metal, and set about replicating it at his home in Horsley, Gloucestershire.
With the aid of a book by its originator, William Willis, and researchers of the process, Paul went on to make 31 Studio a byword for excellence in photographic printing. Many leading photographers – from Bailey to Salgado – have since had their work reproduced in the workshop, which Paul’s sculptor son, Max, later joined and now directs.
It was through Paul and Max that PhotoBath organised the wonderful exhibition of selected platinum images from Salgado’s Genesis project in November, 2016; it proved to be the most successful exhibition ever held at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.
Paul created 31 Studio with enormous love and dedication to the transcendental photographic image and his place in the history of British photography is assured. Our condolences go to his family in Horsley, Gloucestershire.
Photo: Paul Caffell, with his son, Max and Pam Roberts at official opening of the PhotoBath Salgado Exhibition, BRLSI, Wednesday 16 November, 2016.
