I've been ill. Spent the whole night on Monday in the ER. Not serious, not chronic, and not important, but it was an ordeal. I'm recuperating.
Life happens....
Meanwhile, Oren and Carl (old friends, of each other and, later, of me—Oren can be seen here and Carl here) have discovered the Chris Killip Foundation website. There's a beautiful brief selection of photographs from each of several of his projects. Go to the site and then to "Images" and have a look. I think this work deserves extended viewing, even meditation if that's not too much to say. His great 1988 book In Flagrante is hard to obtain, and I've never actually seen a copy. It would be nice to have more of the work online if the presentation were as good as it is on the website. (Why can't whole books be presented online? I guess it's not done because then no one has to pay, and photographers need money too. But when the books aren't available and the photographer is no longer with us....)
I never quite had a handle on Chris Killip while he was alive, I'm sorry to say. So I've been reading bits and pieces of biography from here and there. The Wikipedia article on him is a good place to start.
Back soon.
Mike
P.S. I'll be working on catching up with comments today and tomorrow.
Original contents copyright 2025 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
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Martin Parr has been showcasing Killip's books and works within his Foundation, and owns most (all?) of his books and several dummies/print etc. Some information available in the Foundation website.
https://www.martinparrfoundation.org/bookdummies/chris-killip-in-flagrante-book-dummy-one/
https://www.martinparrfoundation.org/collection/chris-killip-archive/
You'll have to visit to see in person which understandably is not easy for everyone, but it is there.
Posted by: Stelios | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 07:43 AM
Hej. I wish you a full and rapid recuperation.
Amazon (Germany) is shipping the book to me; it will arrive Tuesday. The price was € 11.95 and let me know if you want me to pass it on to you once I have digested it.
Posted by: Christer Almqvist | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 08:27 AM
No doubt this has already been found by Mike.
https://youtu.be/BPFdiyA-J-g?si=4iqu1Snns5f0TJgN
Posted by: Dave_lumb | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 09:03 AM
I am sorry you have not been well.
Seacoal was my introduction to photography: I was given a copy by a friend. Since then I have met one of the people who is in those pictures as a child, but not now of course: older than me.
How these pictures were made is astonishing: he lived really on the beach in a caravan for a year or so, with a huge camera, to overcome the understandable hostility of the people he photographed.
There was an exhibition of his pictures a few years ago in London: they are wonderful to see in real life.
Posted by: Zyni | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 09:08 AM
Mike
I keep a collection of the Phaidon 55 Series in my guest room for folks to peruse when visiting. They are small, each about 5"x5" but quite nicely done with a short analysis intro. In the series there's a copy of a Chris Killip compilation (2001). I often see copies in used bookstores and online offered at various sites (Abebooks, Alibris, etc). Best thing about it; it's inexpensive. Probably a quick way into his oeuvre.
--Rich
Posted by: Rich Beaubien | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 11:08 AM
Feel better!
Posted by: Dave Karp | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 11:37 AM
Powerful work… thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Peter Conway | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 12:00 PM
Feel better- ya know you're at a certain period of life when your ER replaces your local pub in your yearly routine.
Chris Killup is the kind of photographer whose images keep giving, you contemplate them- knowing you'll return yet again...
Mark Steinmetz is one of the few living photographers whose B&W work is on a similar level.
Posted by: Stan B. | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 12:29 PM
I bought the original ‘In Flagrante’ when it was published in 1988. Here is the YouTube version.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=chris+killip+in+flagrante+book&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:098e20f5,vid:bsM9C8W9TEY,st:0
As you can see all the images are printed through the hart of the book. That’s a shame of course. In 2016 ‘In Flagrante 2 came out. They improved the layout by printing each photo on one page only. The lithography and printing quality was also better, but the price for this book is, even in used condition, rather steep.
https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Killip-Flagrante-Two/dp/3869309601/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1JNX626HC6BG3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9oOF4a8nwVR3lGMi5niQrc8RSBWleBJ-4uBG9WpaXyf7EXCqcjLi4wPL2oIBfV7y9-TSC8ImAp8K7hVlqN-Jsw3Q_qNM0mYZL6p5H5LQRvaR3fb-KFNq6vuxLb0cws1p88-vnHWcRTck-n-4WL7chSDzClEAP-YWOffGaEIHOqi028F9rRwOGZF8Q1iUg-B4HYtZLlGwBTtsBbBc6UyiuOJP17awpRU2BnlJPLH0nns.bUMf7ZnYuj_uP5ZiAYbBmmZ8IxOz-sM1KNkyG2KxssQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=chris+killip&qid=1753893961&sprefix=chris+killip,aps,179&sr=8-7
Posted by: s.wolters | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 12:58 PM
Coincidence: Gerald Street is the street where the musician Sting grew up.
And like Chris Killip he found inspiration in the demise of the shipbuilding industry along the River Tyne.
Posted by: Nico. | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 01:50 PM
Great photographer. Terrific body of work. One book I would happily recommend is Sea Coal, published by Steidl.
Posted by: Andrew Lamb | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 03:03 PM
Thanks for link to the Chris Killip Foundation website. I bought a copy of Here Comes Everybody years ago. The photograph of the kids in the submerged swimming pool (?) stuck with me. A beautiful and puzzling photograph.
Posted by: Andrew | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 03:18 PM
“working on comments” - does that include adding the back-stories to all the Doggies?
Posted by: Jez Cunningham | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 05:15 PM
There is copy of the 1988 edition of In Flagrante at the George Eastman museum library in Rochester. Perusing that book from cover to cover is well worth the trip from the finger lakes. It's much more than about deindustrialization and an experience difficult to describe. To me it was a punch in the chest. In the same library, check out Seacoal also by Killip. A very different book in spite of a largely overlapping subject matter. I cannot think of a better demonstration of the importance of sequencing and editing.
Posted by: Martino | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 07:34 PM
There are lots of YouTube videos that flip through a complete photobook (sometimes with commentary, sometimes not). I find them pretty useful when shopping online, since there are no stores near me with a serious photobook selection.
Posted by: AN | Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 11:20 PM
Hope you're feeling better.
I remember watching the Tyne Pride moving down the river in 1976. I think my uncle had been head timekeeper at the Swan Hunters yard where it was built ( probably retired by the time the Pride was launched ).
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/river-tynes-biggest-ever-ship-19056570
I'm pretty sure I was at the punk gig in the 'In Flagrante' collection.
Great photos I'm sure, but not stuff I want to look at.
Posted by: Graeme Scott | Thursday, 31 July 2025 at 06:32 AM
When you hadn't posted for a few days, I thought you were busy at the car dealership. I hope you're feeling better. Get some rest.
Posted by: David Raboin | Thursday, 31 July 2025 at 10:43 AM
There's one forsale here:
https://www.antikvariat.net/da/search/Chris%2BKillip?bookseller=all&letter=all&product_group=all&period=all¤cy=DKK
/niels from Denmark
[
Ha! US$483. Tres cher, or should I say väldigt dyrt. --Mike, and Google Translate
]Posted by: Niels Adsersen | Thursday, 31 July 2025 at 05:18 PM
Yes, indeed. Mr. Killip was the real thing. I was fortunate to see a few exhibitions of his prints. I remember going through a very large group exhibition a few years ago at the Pompidou, and coming upon a half-dozen Killip prints that immediately stood out from everything else I'd seen.
Posted by: Greg Heins | Thursday, 31 July 2025 at 09:56 PM
Sorry, I see this post only now. Happy to read "Not serious, not chronic, and not important" but yeah, ER anyway, so I can imagine how stressful and tiring it must be...
Take care,
Thomas
Posted by: Thomas Paris | Tuesday, 05 August 2025 at 02:55 AM