Peter Dench

Dench was born and grew up in Weymouth, Dorset. He graduated from the University of Derby with a degree in Photographic Studies in 1995 and has been working as a photojournalist since 1998. He currently lives in Crouch End, London.

Dench spent a decade documenting England, which he split into the following themes:{{cite web|url = http://www.photographymonthly.com/Magazine/Photo-Zone-2010/Street-Photography-Peter-Dench | date = 24 November 2010 | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | publisher = Photography Monthly | title = Street Photography: Peter Dench}}{{cite web | url = http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2105031/visa-pour-limage-peter-denchs-england | date = 29 August 2011 | accessdate = 7 January 2012 | first = Olivier | last = Laurent | publisher = British Journal of Photography | title = Visa pour l'Image: Peter Dench's England | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120131055401/http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2105031/visa-pour-limage-peter-denchs-england | archive-date = 31 January 2012 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} drinkUK, ethnicUK, rainUK, loveUK, royalUK, summerUK, fashionUK, and Carry on England.

He was a member of the photo agency Independent Photographer's Group (IPG) from 2000 until the company's closure in 2005.{{cite web|url = http://cpn.canon-europe.com/it/content/interviews/peter_dench_on_photographing_the_english.do | date = December 2011 | accessdate = 9 January 2012 | publisher = | title = Interviste}}{{cite web|url = http://www.refocusproject.org/about_us.htm | accessdate = 9 January 2012 | publisher = Refocus | title = About Us}} In January 2012 he joined Reportage by Getty Images as one of their Represented Photographers{{cite web | url = http://www.photoarchivenews.com/peter-dench-is-now-at-reportage/ | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120906005026/http://www.photoarchivenews.com/peter-dench-is-now-at-reportage/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = 6 September 2012 | date = 26 January 2012 | accessdate = 27 January 2012 | last = Carleton | first = Will | publisher = Photo Archive News | title = Peter Dench Is Now at Reportage }} (later known as Getty Verbatim).

Around 2007 Dench spent 15 months photographing Football's Hidden Story in 20 countries as a commission for FIFA, documenting "the way in which the sport thrives in the most improbable circumstances and in which enthusiasm for the game is being harnessed for the good of the community".{{cite web | url = http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/project/1650844/football-international | date = 1 June 2010 | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | first = Sean | last = Louth | publisher = British Journal of Photography | title = Football international | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111106094853/http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/project/1650844/football-international | archive-date = 6 November 2011 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}

A Day Off in the Lives of Europe is a project in which he photographed people around Europe commemorating events of national significance.

Dench says of his work:

I’m always looking for humour in my pictures. Charlie Chaplin is a big influence and I often try to address serious subjects in a humorous way when appropriate. My aim is to make people laugh, make people think. Looking through the books of Elliott Erwitt and Martin Parr is the reason I got into photography. If you can travel the world making people laugh and making them think, then to me that's a fine way to live.

The Visa pour l'image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France, has screened Dench's work five times (including Carry On England in 2009{{cite web|url = http://we-english.co.uk/blog/?p=1825 | date = 19 August 2009 | accessdate = 7 January 2012 | author = Simon Roberts | title = Carry On England by Peter Dench}}) and exhibited it once.

He was described in 2011 as a contributing editor of Hungry Eye magazine and creative director of White Cloth Gallery in Leeds, which he founded with co-creative director Sharon Price.{{cite web|url = http://www.canon.co.uk/prosolutions2011/seminars/Peter_Dench.aspx | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111216154013/http://www.canon.co.uk/prosolutions2011/seminars/Peter_Dench.aspx | archivedate = 16 December 2011 | work = Pro Solutions 2011: Seminars. Speakers |year=2011 | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | publisher= Canon UK | title = Peter Dench}} He was a contributor to Professional Photographer magazine podcasts 1 to 13 in 2010/2011.[http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/Magazine/Podcasts Here] at Professional Photographer. His monthly Dench Diary appeared in Professional Photographer in 2010/11{{cite web|url = http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/Magazine/The-Dench-Diary | accessdate = 7 January 2012 | publisher = Professional Photographer | title = The Dench Diary}} and in Hungry Eye from 2011.

Dench's advertising commissions have appeared on billboards and bus stop posters, in corporate brochures and in newspapers, including campaigns for Weetabix,{{cite web|url = http://www.worldphoto.org/images/image-gallery/1704/ | accessdate = 14 January 2012 | publisher = World Photography Organisation | title = Peter Dench – Someone's had their Weetabix}} Barclaycard,{{cite web | url = http://www.saatchionline.com/art/Unknown/69536/540312/view | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120908121936/http://www.saatchionline.com/art/Unknown/69536/540312/view | url-status = dead | archive-date = 8 September 2012 | date = 4 October 2010 | accessdate = 14 January 2012 | publisher = Saatchi Online | title = Saatchi Online Artist: Peter Dench }} Barclays Wealth,{{cite web | url = http://www.locateproductions.com/c/portfolio_view.php?p_id=151&p_type=0 | accessdate = 14 January 2012 | publisher = Locate Productions | title = Project: Barclays Wealth – Photographer: Peter Dench | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140906065424/http://www.locateproductions.com/c/portfolio_view.php?p_id=151&p_type=0 | archive-date = 6 September 2014 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} Suzuki, the British Heart Foundation, Danish Bacon and Maxim magazine.

He has made formal portraits of Tom Jones, Vinnie Jones, Heston Blumenthal, Freddie Flintoff, Alain Ducasse, Jamie Oliver, Vijay Mallya, Zöe Lucker, Tamsin Greig, Ahmet Ertegun, Alicia Silverstone and Dermot Desmond.

In February 2012 Dench successfully used the Emphas.is visual journalism crowd funding website to raise funds for his first book, England Uncensored,

{{cite web | url = http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2300387/crowdfunding-platform-emphasis-goes-insolvent-amid-internal-conflicts | date = 14 October 2013 | accessdate = 14 October 2013 | publisher = British Journal of Photography | title = Crowdfunding platform Emphas.is goes insolvent amid internal conflicts | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131014111521/http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2300387/crowdfunding-platform-emphasis-goes-insolvent-amid-internal-conflicts | archive-date = 14 October 2013 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}{{cite web|url = http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/bookproject?projectID=485 | accessdate = 31 January 2012 | publisher = Emphas.is | title = UK Uncensored by Peter Dench}} published in May 2012.

For 6 months in 2013 he collaborated with Reportage by Getty Images on the Future of Britain project, commissioned by OMD UK. Dench photographed the country to accompany OMD's research and statistics on the long-term economic downturn and changes to its population and demographics, published on a blog throughout the period.{{cite journal | year=2013 | first=Olivier | last=Laurent | title=Country in flux | periodical=British Journal of Photography | volume=160 | issue=7814 | pages=80–81 | publisher=Apptitude Media}}

In 2015 he founded The Curators with co-founder Director Sharon Price, curating and touring photography exhibitions and Photo North Festival across the UK

• England Uncensored. Dublin: Emphas.is, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-909076-00-6}}.
• The Dench Diary: The Diary of a Sometimes Working Professional Photographer. Eastbourne: United Nations of Photography, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-909135-11-6}}. Edition of 250 copies.{{cite web|url = http://reportagebygettyimages.tumblr.com/post/41873108739/photographer-peter-dench-has-launched-an-ebook-in|title = Photographer Peter Dench has launched an eBook, in...|accessdate = 7 September 2013|publisher = Reportage by Getty Images}}
• A&E: Alcohol and England. Liverpool: Bluecoat, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1908457233}}.
• The British Abroad. Liverpool: Bluecoat, 2014.The publication date printed in the book is 2014 but the book was actually published in 2015. {{ISBN|9781908457264}}. With an introduction and afterword by Dench.
• Dench Does Dallas. Liverpool: Bluecoat, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1908457295}}. With a foreword by Dench.
• The English Summer Season. Little Neston, UK: Fistful, 2019. Edition of 125 copies.

• Suited and Booted. Southport: Café Royal, 2013. Edition of 150 copies.Its web page is [https://web.archive.org/web/20130826143030/http://www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/suited-and-booted/ www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/suited-and-booted].
• Trawlermen. Southport: Café Royal, 2015. Edition of 150 copies.Its web page is [http://www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/trawlermen/ www.caferoyalbooks.com/index.php/shop/suited-and-booted]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.
• The English Summer Season. Fistful of Books, 2019. Edition of 100 copies.
• Football’s Hidden Story. Fistful of Books, 2019. Edition of 125 copies.
• Sun, Sea & Covid-19. Fistful of Books, 2020. Edition of 125 copies.
• Lockdown Fanatical Football Fans. Fistful of Books, 2020. Edition of 125 copies.
• The Tale of the Tape. Fistful of Books, 2020. Edition of 125 copies.

• Joop Swart Masterclass 10 Years. Amsterdam: World Press Photo, 2004. {{ISBN|90-803698-2-9}}.{{cite web | url = http://www.worldpressphoto.org/publications/JoopSwartMasterclass_10_years | accessdate = 9 January 2012 | publisher = World Press Photo | title = Joop Swart Masterclass 10 years | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111231123752/http://www.worldpressphoto.org/publications/JoopSwartMasterclass_10_years | archive-date = 31 December 2011 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}
• UK at Home – a celebration of where we live and love. Included Pics for pickers. London: Duncan Baird, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-84483-652-9}}.
• Sony World Photography Awards 2010. Featured Someone's Had Their Weetabix. Paris: Verlhac, 2010. {{ISBN|978-2-916954-56-1}}.
• Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained. Oxford: Focal, 2014. {{ISBN|978-0415717540}}. By Grant Scott. With contributions from Dench as well as Alicia Bruce, Chris Floyd, Niall McDiarmid and Jim Mortram.
• Great Britons of Photography Vol.1: The Dench Dozen. Eastbourne, UK: Hungry Eye, 2016. {{ISBN|978-0-9926405-2-1}}. With photographs by and transcripts of interviews between Dench and Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Marcus Bleasdale, Harry Borden, John Bulmer, Chris Floyd, Brian Griffin, Laura Pannack, Martin Parr, Tom Stoddart, Homer Sykes, and Anastasia Taylor-Lind. 160 pages. Edition of 500 copies.

• 2nd place, Advertising category, Sony World Photography Awards
• Roadside Diners, July 1998 selected for National Portrait Gallery's John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, London, 1999
• George, Naturist, Palm Springs, October 2000 selected for National Portrait Gallery, John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, London, 2001
• 1 of 12 photographers selected to take part in World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass 2002{{cite web | url = http://www.worldphoto.org/news-and-events/wpo-news/interview-with-peter-dench-photographer-of-the-month/ | date = 14 September 2010 | accessdate = 9 January 2012 | publisher = World Photography Organisation | title = Interview with Peter Dench – Photographer of the Month | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101013075310/http://www.worldphoto.org/news-and-events/wpo-news/interview-with-peter-dench-photographer-of-the-month/ | archive-date = 13 October 2010 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}
• 3rd prize, People in the News category, World Press Photo Award, 2002 for Drinking of England{{cite web|url = http://www.archive.worldpressphoto.org/search/layout/result/indeling/detailwpp/form/wpp/q/ishoofdafbeelding/true/trefwoord/photographer_formal/Dench,%20Peter | date = 16 August 2011 | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | publisher = World Press Photo | title = 2002, Peter Dench, 3rd Prize, People in the News stories}}
• Marquesa deVarela, social fixer for Hello! magazine, April 2003 selected for National Portrait Gallery's Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize, London, 2003
• 1st place, Sport category, Football in Liberia, 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup, International Color Awards, 2009{{cite web | url = http://www.thecolorawards.com/gallery/index.php?cid=37 | accessdate = 9 January 2012 | publisher = Photography Masters Cup | title = Sport winners | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121027141840/http://www.thecolorawards.com/gallery/index.php?cid=37 | archive-date = 27 October 2012 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}

• Finding Faith, Ourhouse Gallery, Brighton, 2006
• LoveUK, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, 2010{{cite news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/cardiff/2010/feb/15/third-floor-gallery | first=Hannah | last=Waldram | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | work = The Guardian |title = New gallery opens in Cardiff – Third Floor Gallery opens with new exhibition from Peter Dench, Love:UK | location=London | date=8 March 2010}}
• England Uncensored, Central European House of Photography (CEHP), Bratislava, Slovakia, 2013{{cite web|url = http://reportagebygettyimages.tumblr.com/post/48615199651/the-central-european-house-of-photography-in | date = 23 April 2013 | accessdate = 25 April 2013 | publisher = Reportage by Getty Images | title = The Central European House of Photography in...}}
• Dench Does Dallas, Art Bermondsey Project Space, London, 2015;{{cite web|url = http://www.olympus-imagespace.co.uk/art-bermondsey-project-space-dench-does-dallas/ | accessdate = 5 November 2015 | publisher = Olympus Corporation | title = Art Bermondsey Project Space opens with 'Dench does Dallas'}} The Gallery at Munro House, Leeds, 2016{{cite web | url = https://leedsgallery.com/whats-on/exhibitions/dench-does-dallas/ | accessdate = 15 September 2016 | publisher = The Gallery at Munro House | title = Dench Does Dallas }}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

• Football's Hidden Story, Liberia, The Foto8 Summershow, 2008{{cite web | url = http://www.foto8.com/summershow/summershow_catalogue.pdf | accessdate = 10 January 2012 | publisher = Foto8 | title = Foto8 Summer Show Exhibition Catalogue | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100215230453/http://www.foto8.com/summershow/summershow_catalogue.pdf | archive-date = 15 February 2010 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}{{cite web | url = http://www.foto8.com/new/summershow-2011/summershow-archive/1397-summer-show-2008- | date = 18 March 2009 | accessdate = 9 January 2012 | publisher = Foto8 | title = Summershow 2008: In Summary | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110416073424/http://www.foto8.com/new/summershow-2011/summershow-archive/1397-summer-show-2008- | archive-date = 16 April 2011 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}
• 2 images from loveUK, The Foto8 Summershow, 2010{{cite web|url = http://jamesdodd.net/news/2010/06/24/foto8-summer-show-2010/ | date = 24 June 2010 | accessdate = 9 January 2012 | last = Dodd | first = James | title = Foto8 Summer Show 2010}}
• Letters from Europe, Ernest Lluch Cultural Center, San Sebastián, Spain, 2011. One of six contributing photographers. Project co-financed by the European Commission's Daphne III programme.{{cite web|url = http://issuu.com/neskakgora/docs/letters_from_europe | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | last = | first = | publisher = | title = Letters From Europe}}
• England Uncensored, White Cloth Gallery, Leeds, UK, 2012{{cite web|url = http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/Exhibitions/July-2012/England-Uncensored-at-White-Cloth-Gallery | date = 19 July 2012 | publisher = Professional Photographer | title = England Uncensored at White Cloth Gallery}}

• Drinking of England, GetxoPhoto photography festival, Getxo, Bilbao, Spain, 2010{{cite web | url = http://www.nereaubieto.com/2010/09/getxophoto-2010-el-elogio-del-ocio.html | date = 20 September 2010 | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | publisher = | title = GetxoPhoto 2010: El Elogio Del Ocio | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140906085250/http://www.nereaubieto.com/2010/09/getxophoto-2010-el-elogio-del-ocio.html | archive-date = 6 September 2014 | url-status = dead }}
• England Uncensored – A Decade of Photographing the English, Visa pour l'image festival of photojournalism, Perpignan, France, 2011
• Periscopio festival of photojournalism, Vitoria, Spain, 2011{{cite web |url = http://www.periscopiovitoria.com/en/periscopio.html |accessdate = 6 January 2012 |first = Paco |last = Valderrama |publisher = Periscopio Vitoria-Gasteiz |title = Introduction: Something for Everyone |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140905145855/http://www.periscopiovitoria.com/en/periscopio.html |archive-date = 5 September 2014 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all }}
• Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK, 2011. Video installation.{{cite web | url = http://www.formatfestival.com/artists/peter-dench | date = 4 March – 3 April 2011 | accessdate = 6 January 2012 | publisher = Format Festival | title = England Uncensored: a decade of photographing the English | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110917024654/http://www.formatfestival.com/artists/peter-dench | archive-date = 17 September 2011 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}
• The British Abroad, The International Photoreporter Festival #2, Saint-Brieuc, France, 2013;{{cite web |url = http://www.festival-photoreporter.fr/peter-dench/ | accessdate = 8 November 2013 | publisher = Festival Photoreporter | title = Peter Dench}} POP Galleries, Hull International Photography Festival, Hull, UK, 2015{{cite web | url = https://hullinternationalphotofest.com/hipphotofest-2015-exhibitions/ | accessdate = 13 October 2016 | publisher = Hull International Photography Festival | title = 2015 Exhibitions | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161013144708/https://hullinternationalphotofest.com/hipphotofest-2015-exhibitions/ | archive-date = 13 October 2016 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/oct/03/hull-international-photography-festival-in-pictures | date = 3 October 2015 | accessdate = 13 October 2016 | newspaper = The Guardian | location = London | title = Hull international photography festival - in pictures}}

• Alcohol & England, Hull International Photography Festival, Hull, UK, 2016.{{cite web|url = http://hipgallery.co.uk/exhibitions/british-abroad-2/ | accessdate = 13 October 2016 | publisher = HIP Gallery | title = Alcohol & England (HIP Festival Exhibition) by Peter Dench}}

• Cosplay (2011) with Ben Turner[http://vimeo.com/31795274 Here] at Vimeo.
• The War & Peace Show (2011) with Ben Turner[http://vimeo.com/30021139 Here] at Vimeo.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|www.peterdench.com}}
• [http://www.reportagebygettyimages.com/peter-dench/ Peter Dench at Reportage by Getty Images]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpnShGmRnfE 'Shoot and Move On: A Day in the Life of Street Photographers' by Sony Ericcsson on YouTube featuring Peter Dench]

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dench, Peter}}

Category:Photographers from Dorset

Category:English photojournalists

Category:British street photographers

Category:Alumni of the University of Derby

Category:21st-century British photographers

Category:20th-century British photographers

Category:People from Weymouth, Dorset

Category:Living people

Category:1972 births