Duffy

In 2013 Duffy was voted as one of the topmost 100 influential photographers of all time and he richly deserves that title. When Duffy felt he had pushed the boundaries as far as he could and was no longer satisfied with stills photography he abruptly shut his studio, attempted to burn all of his negatives and moved into commercials.

Despite repeated requests to return to still photography, give interviews or discuss his career, he became reclusive and his remaining negatives would have stayed in boxes under the stairs had it not been for the persistence of his eldest son, Chris.

Chris realised that Duffy’s name was slowly slipping into obscurity and regularly tried to persuade him to do something with his remaining archive. It wasn’t until 2006 when Duffy was diagnosed with the degenerative lung disease Pulmonary Fibrosis that he finally gave Chris the green light to start putting the archive together. The process was a labour of love for the first few years. Organising, scanning and databasing his negatives took many hours whilst Chris was running his own photographic studio.