Dafydd Jones

With Dafydd Jones’ stunning darkroom prints on the gallery walls, we welcome him to Oriel Colwyn to speak about his New York and Hollywood work in-person at this special Talk Photo event.

Date: Saturday 5th July

Time: 1pm  (doors 12.30pm)

Location: Upstairs in the Gallery at Oriel Colwyn

Dafydd's father, Glyn and grandmother both came from Pont-Y-Garth in Maenan near Llanrwst. The young Jones family moved frequently. For a while they lived in Port Dinorwig, then Bangor and then Carmarthen. Dafydd’s uncle, Will, was a blacksmith in North Wales and his grandmother, Myfanwy, later lived and worked in Colwyn Bay, spending her final years here.

When he was aged 11 the family moved to Oxford. Dafydd went to the local grammar school. Unlike Carmarthen, Oxford had many private schools and Dafydd saw a bit of this other world as he played in the school chess team.

He made friends with some of the private school boys and girls at a weekly church disco. He went on to study Fine Art at Winchester school of art, developing an interest in portraying the upper-class establishment. At first in paintings and then using photography.

After spending the 1980s photographing the British aristocracy he moved with his wife Linzi and 2 young children to New York in 1989. He worked for Vanity Fair, Paper magazine and the New York Observer. They funded his photography and gave him a unique excuse, and the access, to continue covering a world he was inspired to photograph.Dafrdd photographed Manhattan’s rich and powerful including a young property developer called Donald Trump. He photographed the society gala’s as well as movie stars in Hollywood.

His images from this period captured at parties and events in New York and Hollywood – form a continuum of social commentary 1989-1999.