His Approach
It would be easy to describe Killip’s approach and success as being rooted in the technical process of taking photographs. He used a 4 x 5
plate camera, usually situated upon a tripod (though he would later ditch the tripod to allow for more flexibility). And he may have been the first British photographer to use a flash when shooting black and white in daylight, though he attributes the inspiration to Weegee.4 He also used a “gun” to trigger the taking of the photograph with his thumb, which being silent did not interfere with the conversation he was having with his subjects, an effect which both engaged and calmed them as he searched for the perfect shot – a shot that, oftentimes unbeknownst to himself, revealed itself in the dark room.
Yet, that was not Killip’s approach: those were merely tools he used. His real approach was first and foremost to immerse himself within the communities he photographed. It was a process he learned when attempting to approach individuals in various places – whether on Isle of Man where he documented his hometown, at Newcastle where he documented experiences of families suffering economic downturn, at Lynemouth for his series Seacoal, at Skinningrove where he befriended some of the local youngsters, or at Gateshead where he engaged with a local punk collective.
Killip often spoke about the conversation he had with Josef Koudelka in 1975, which confirmed he, Chris, was on the right path with such an approach and why he should stay to complete his work in Newcastle. According to
Chris, “Josef said that you could bring in six Magnum photographers, and they could stay
and photograph for six weeks – and he felt that inevitably their photographs would have a sort of similarity. As good as they were, their photographs wouldn’t get beyond a certain
point. But if you stayed for two years, your pictures would be different, and if you stayed for three years they would be different again. You could get under the skin of a place and do something different, because you were then photographing from the inside.”5
His Subjects
Killip’s commercial photography – documenting processes at UK Pirelli and installation of a British gas pipeline, consulting as a freelancer to advertising projects – gained him some notoriety: but it was his social documentary photographs that brought him fame.
Isle of Man
Isle of Man was Killip’s home, and the place he chose to first engage his own vision. What is most engaging about this early work are his portraits.
When he told his father he intended to become a photographer, Killip’s father pointed out that Chris had never owned a camera or taken a photograph.
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