The Michael Hudson Collection

the online gallery for the archives of photographer Michael Hudson

“I’ve always known I’d be a photographer... and it’s still the only job I’ve ever had. It’s opened a lot of doors for me to photograph royalty, presidents, rock stars, athletes, CEO’s and thousands of ‘normal’ people. Prints of my fine art images hang on collectors’ walls and my books are found on coffee tables around the world. But after 32 years, I’m grateful to be a survivor. This is a tough business to be in.

“But I’m sometimes asked, after all these years, what’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever photographed? And I have to go back– way back– to a time before I turned professional for the answer. Back 35 years ago, to the 1980’s when I photographed the Royal Family, before I got paid to take pictures– when I took photos for the pure enjoyment of it. I’d never experienced anything like those days before or since.

“The images in these galleries are from a simpler time– the days of film photography and manual focus cameras, before the internet, social media, and before digital cameras and smartphones made photography so much easier. Back to the days when Princess Diana was regularly on the front page of every British newspaper, when William and Harry were little boys, when a phone was just something that hung on your wall, and when you shared photos by passing them around to friends, not with strangers on a website. Times have changed more than anyone who didn’t live through the 80’s can ever imagine. But fortunately, these images can remind us of a time that once was… and is now no longer.”

Michael Hudson, photographer