Gypsy Camera

Tony Boxall's chance encounter with Jim, a Gypsy travelling in southern England in 1964, led to a four year photographic project which, by equal good fortune, recorded the most significant transition in Gypsy culture in several hundred years. His photographs depict one Gypsy family's experience of the decline of the horse-drawn way of life and show another family of travellers coming to terms with the motorised era. Beyond their importance as a record of our recent social history, these are delightful photographs to behold. The richness and colour of this little understood culture springs to life through the medium of Tony's camera, particularly in the weathered faces of the life-hardened adults and the lively, expressive child studies. The photographs are a celebration of a way of life which will never be quite the same again. Brian Raywid's informed and authoritative commentary on Gypsy life complements the photographs, bringing interesting details to the attention and providing a rich understanding of the travelling way of life...ABOUT AUTHORS: Tony Boxall, one of the best known amateur photographers in the world, is often referred to as 'the Gypsy photographer', because of the wide acclaim he received for his photographs, taken between 1964 and 1968, of Gypsy life. Tony's Gypsy photographs have won him numerous prizes and awards, and have been the subject of exhibitions at The Royal Photographic Society, Reading's Hexagon and Fairfield Hall, Croydon. Representative samples of his work have been selected for the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert museum and The Royal Photographic Society.Brian Raywid, although not a Romany, spent several years travelling, earning a living as knife grinder and totter. Now a university graduate, his illuminating commentary draws on his first-hand experience of the travelling Gypsy life in the 1960s and 1970s. His informative text draws out the finer details captured in this remarkable collection of photographs.