Mike Russell was a pioneer of digital photography in Britain.3
My friend Mike Russell, who has died from cancer aged 57, was one of the pioneers of digital photography in the UK. His love affair with photography was prompted by seeing the 1966 film Blow-Up, which featured David Hemmings rolling around with fashion models and a Nikon camera. This struck him at the time as a career path worth further investigation.
Mike grew up in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and, having graduated in photography from the Central London Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster) in 1976, he soon established himself as one of London's leading fashion and still-life photographers. He later wrote: "I lived through the great excesses of advertising, when being a photographer was akin to being a pop star. Then I watched it drift away to the sorry state where so many now scrabble to make a living."
In the 1990s, the arrival of digital photography was to provide Mike's career with a welcome new direction, and he was one of its pioneers through his company Mouse in the House, based in west London, which offered probably the best digital training facilities in the country. With typical generosity, he would often let struggling young photographers use his studio space free.
But it was in the last decade that Mike perhaps discovered his true vocation – as a fearless reportage photographer "embedded" within various environmental and social justice groups such as Climate Camp and Plane Stupid. The successful campaign against the Heathrow third runway became one of his greatest commitments, and on one occasion he spent a short period in the cells beneath the House of Commons, during which his primary concern was to repeatedly demand of his captors the whereabouts of his favourite umbrella.
Mike is survived by his wife of 28 years, Tessa, and children, Bert and Cleo. Examples of his work can be viewed at minimouse.me.uk. One of his colleagues at the protest group UK Uncut wrote just before his death: "Wherever you go next, I hope they give you a camera."
Mike grew up in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and, having graduated in photography from the Central London Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster) in 1976, he soon established himself as one of London's leading fashion and still-life photographers. He later wrote: "I lived through the great excesses of advertising, when being a photographer was akin to being a pop star. Then I watched it drift away to the sorry state where so many now scrabble to make a living."
In the 1990s, the arrival of digital photography was to provide Mike's career with a welcome new direction, and he was one of its pioneers through his company Mouse in the House, based in west London, which offered probably the best digital training facilities in the country. With typical generosity, he would often let struggling young photographers use his studio space free.
But it was in the last decade that Mike perhaps discovered his true vocation – as a fearless reportage photographer "embedded" within various environmental and social justice groups such as Climate Camp and Plane Stupid. The successful campaign against the Heathrow third runway became one of his greatest commitments, and on one occasion he spent a short period in the cells beneath the House of Commons, during which his primary concern was to repeatedly demand of his captors the whereabouts of his favourite umbrella.
Mike is survived by his wife of 28 years, Tessa, and children, Bert and Cleo. Examples of his work can be viewed at minimouse.me.uk. One of his colleagues at the protest group UK Uncut wrote just before his death: "Wherever you go next, I hope they give you a camera."
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