Chris McAndrew
{{short description|British portrait photographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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Chris McAndrew (born 1 February 1974{{Cite web |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/-VwGB5MwJz-W5xsPsUim0lgC5Ng/appointments |publisher=Companies House |title=Christopher John MCANDREW - Personal Appointments |access-date=2020-01-29}}{{Cite tweet |user=mcandrewphoto |author=Chris McAndrew 📷 |number=959150832913698818 |date= 1 Feb 2018 |title=Well that was a lovely birthday lunch @boccadilupo thanks so much ! Came home to a case of Barolo on the doorstep, which was also rather lovely. First bottle is now open.}}) is a British photographer, known for celebrity portraits including Snoop Dogg and Charlotte Rampling. In 2017 he was commissioned to develop a collection of freely-licensed images of Parliament for the Parliamentary Digital Service, including a set of official portraits of MPs and peers.{{cite news|last1=Hughes|first1=Pascale|title=Parliament hires Snoop Dogg photographer to give Ken Clarke a new image|url=https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/ken-clarke-gets-glammed-snoop-dogg-photographer/|accessdate=26 July 2017|work=iNews|date=22 July 2017}}
Early life and education
McAndrew grew up in West Yorkshire's Rhubarb Triangle, and took his first photographs with a second-hand Minolta X-500 at the age of 10. He studied painting and photography at Chelsea School of Art.{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://www.mcandrewphoto.co.uk/biography/|website=Chris McAndrew|accessdate=18 September 2020}}
Official parliamentary portraits
File:Kenneth Clarke MP - official photo 2017.jpg, the then Father of the House]]
The plan had been to take photographs of MPs after work in three other categories: "modernity and tradition", "the people that make the palace" and "public engagement". The announcement of the 2017 general election to be held on 8 June gave an unexpected opportunity to photograph most of the 650 newly elected, or re-elected, MPs within two days, as they each attended Parliament to be sworn in before taking their seats. McAndrew shot over 15,000 images during two days, working in the "Reason Room" behind the Speaker's Chair.{{cite web |last1=Barclay |first1=Carrie |title=Making history: official portraits and open source images|url=https://pds.blog.parliament.uk/2017/07/21/mp-official-portraits-open-source-images/|publisher=Parliamentary Digital Service |date=21 July 2017 |accessdate=26 July 2017 }}
Carrie Barclay, who led the project, said:{{cite web|last1=Pattinson|first1=Georgina|title=MPs' portraits: Photos show 'human' side of Parliament|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-parliaments-40755201|website=BBC News|accessdate=28 July 2017|date=28 July 2017}}
{{Blockquote|Chris's distinctive style and ability to put people immediately at ease meant we could capture a raw, but sophisticated, image that showed MPs as relatable people.}}
The images are available for reuse under a Creative Commons "Attribution 3.0 Unported" licence.
In March 2018, similar portraits of members of the House of Lords were released, under the same license.{{cite web |title=Making history: official portraits and open images (updated) |last1=Barclay |first1=Carrie |url=https://pds.blog.parliament.uk/2017/07/21/mp-official-portraits-open-source-images/# |publisher=Parliamentary Digital Service |date=20 March 2018 |accessdate=20 March 2018}}
The Times reported that several MPs had complained about the photographs, one having described them as making members look like "the most dysfunctional set of secondary school staff ever", and at least one MP had had their photograph removed from the parliamentary website at their request.{{cite news|last=Maguire|first=Patrick|title=MPs ridiculed as portraits go viral|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/mps-ridiculed-as-portraits-go-viral-l7tdklql8|url-access=limited|newspaper=The Times|date=29 July 2017|access-date=24 August 2017}}
References
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External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{official website}}
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Category:People from West Yorkshire
Category:British portrait photographers