Steve was born in Johannesburg, where he developed an early interest in photography, inspired by images in Life Magazine.
In the early seventies he took pictures, some of which are displayed here, of people living under South Africa’s Apartheid system.
The pictures eloquently capture the pain and suffering of the black population caused by the inhumanity of the apartheid system.#
They also demonstrate the potential of black and white photography to tell a powerful story without the need for words.
They were featured in the London Festival of Photography in 2012 under the name “Beneath the Surface: South Africa in the 1970s” and recently at the Beaney Art Gallery in Canterbury.
Steve is probably better known as for his wildlife photography and has published many books of wonderful pictures. His large scale outdoor exhibition called “Spirit of the Wild” ran for 5 years between 2006-2010 displaying in many cities throughout the world and was viewed by millions of people. He has won many prestigious awards for his innovative and evocative photography.
Steve lives in Wye.
website: stevebloomshop.com
Top: ‘Charles, pictured here with his young daughter, was one of my work colleagues at Nationale Tydskrifte (National Magazines). Our work entailed preparing photographs for reproduction, which included making exposures in a darkroom. Charles was permitted to make a single exposure onto a sheet of film, but if more than one exposure was made onto the same sheet of film, it constituted skilled work which was reserved for white technicians.’
Middle: Woman with her husband, a stroke patient, Manenberg, near Cape Town, 1976. Steve Bloom recalls: ‘Eddie was a work colleague who was confined at home following a stroke. If you look carefully at the picture you can see a third person reflected in the mirror.’
Bottom: Green Point, Cape Town 1977. Green Point is a residential suburb close to the city centre. The effect of apartheid was to engender feelings of indifference across the colour line.