Paddy Summerfield

Paddy Summerfield (18 February 1947 – 11 April 2024) was a British photographer who lived and worked in Oxford all his life.

Summerfield is known for his "evocative series of black and white images, shot on 35mm film, which co-opt the traditional genre of documentary photography to realise a more personal and inward looking vision." After taking an Art Foundation course at the Oxford Polytechnic, Summerfield attended Guildford School of Art, studying firstly in the Photography Department, then joining the Film department the following year. In 1967, when still a first-year student, he made photographs that appeared in 1970 in Bill Jay's magazine Album. Between 1968 and 1978, Summerfield documented Oxford University students in the summer terms.

Publications Books by Summerfield Mother and Father. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2014. . The Oxford Pictures 1968–1978. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2016. . Empty Days. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2018. . The Holiday Pictures. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2019. . Home Movie. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2021. . With an essay by Patricia Baker-Cassidy.

Smaller publications by Summerfield Weekend Away. Southport, UK: Café Royal, 2016. Edition of 200 copies. Remember Hope. Photopaper 17. Fotobookfestival Kassel, 2017. Edited by Gerry Badger. Distant Times. Southport, UK: Café Royal, 2018. Edition of 250 copies.

Publications with others Serpentine Photography 73: The Arts Council presents work by 43 young photographers. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1973. . 45 cards (90 sides) in an envelope. Family: Photographers Photograph Their Families. Edited by Sophie Spencer-Wood. London and New York: Phaidon, 2005. .

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 1976: Beneath the Dreaming Spires, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 2019–2020: The Holiday Pictures, Flow Photographic Gallery, London 2025: Paddy Summerfield: the camera helps, Bodleian Library, Oxford 1972: Young Contemporaries II Creative Camera Travelling Exhibition 1973: Serpentine Photography '73, Serpentine Gallery, London. Curated by Peter Turner 1974: Co-Optic Real Britain, 19 February – 9 March. With Co-Optic group members Martin Parr, Chris Steele-Perkins, Peter Turner, and Nick Hedges. 1975: Young British Photographers, with Brian Griffin, Chris Steele-Perkins, etc, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; The Photographers' Gallery, London; then travelling UK, Europe, USA 1989: Sun Life Photography Awards, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford Bodleian Library, Oxford Victoria and Albert Museum, London Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, UK