Around 18 months later I began working full time for Queen as they began recording the Night at The Opera album. I was principally Freddie and John’s roadie, then after a couple of years became head of the crew and worked with them full time until the end of their final tour in 1986, when I left the music business to start my career as a professional advertising photographer.
Although my photography was simply a hobby then, during that time I took thousands of photographs of Queen; in the studio, on video shoots, rehearsals, relaxing and on only a couple of occasions, on stage. Many of my images were used by the band for publicity, albums, single sleeves, tour programmes, and posters and have been included in my recently published book Queen Unseen.
The underwater photographs in the exhibition developed from a personal project I started in the mid 90’s when scuba diving in tropical waters. Underwater camera gear was pretty cumbersome and I hit on the simple idea of using fast black and white film (Fuji Neopan 1600 – who sponsored me) and a basic Nikon Nikonos V with available light. My bright orange NIk V could be stowed in a pocket of my buoyancy jacket and restrained with the strap through a buckle.
The final photographs are black and white hand prints that are treated by using different papers, developers and toners and although the images are not conventional as the bright saturated colour normally associated with underwater photography, they are true in that they are done with natural light - no flash. Neither are any of the images re touched or computer manipulated. Despite being monotone they convey the atmosphere and drama that divers experience in the underwater world - the perspective, drama, beauty, shape, and the feeling of simply being there.
www.peterhince.co.uk
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