b. 1951, South Africa
d. 2018
John Reardon (1951 - 2018) was a British photographer, born in Cape Town. He studied film and photography at Birmingham University. In 1979, he was part of the photographer’s group who set up Ten 8 magazine – a seminal quarterly that focused on British photography, and lasted until 1993. Reardon collaborated to publish Home Front in 1984, published by Random House and later exhibited at The Photographer’s Gallery. He began as a freelance photojournalist and picture editor in 1979.
He started shooting for The Observer in the mid 1980s, beginning a distinguished career in photojournalism that saw him photographing war and humanitarian stories in Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, to name a few.
In 1993, he joined the prestigious Independent Photographers Group set up by John Easterby. The same year, he left for war- torn Kabul, Afghanistan, and the outstanding results, displayed sumptuously in the Observer Magazine, saw his work gain global recognition at the World Press Awards. Reardon was invited to apply to join Magnum Photos; he refused, the story goes, because his portfolio “wasn’t ready”.
He continued to produce photo essays for the paper; including the war in Kosovo, and the aftermath of 9/11. In 2001, he began to produce ground-breaking portraits of chefs. His work is part of Autograph ABP (Handsworth Self Portraits, 1979 series) and the National Portrait Gallery collection in London including a famous ‘Last Supper’ shot with 12 Michelin-starred chefs featuring Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Michel Roux Jr or Raymond Blanc. This coincided with his experimental work for the Darley Stud in 2001.