Kevin Cummins (photographer)

Cummins studied photography in Salford.[7] He started photographing rock bands in the mid-1970s in Manchester.[8] Cummins had a 25-year association with the NME,[9] including 10 years as their chief photographer.[10] He has photographed numerous bands and musicians. His images have been seen as a contributing factor in the rise of the Madchester and Cool Britannia scenes.[11]

Cummins was instrumental in establishing City Life,[12] Manchester's what's on guide and was a founding contributor to The Face, the style magazine where he won an award for Magazine Cover of the Year.[13]

Cummins's photographs have been used extensively in cinema and TV documentaries including Grant Gee's Joy Division and John Dower's Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop.[14]

He worked extensively for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester when it opened in the late 1970s through to mid-1980s. He shoots regularly for the National Theatre in London, most recently Harper Regan and Mrs Affleck.[15]

A lifelong Manchester City F.C. supporter,[16] Cummins documented City's final season at Maine Road in the book We're Not Really Here.[17]

In 2005, British pop artist Peter Blake produced a screen print based on one of Cummins' Joy Division prints.[18]

• The Smiths and Beyond (2002)
• We're Not Really Here: Manchester City's Final Season at Maine Road[17]
• Juvenes (2007). Edition of 226 copies.[19]
  • Joy Division: Juvenes. Cassell, 2021. ISBN 978-1788402712.[20]
• Manchester: Looking For the Light Through the Pouring Rain[21][22]
• Joy Division (Rizzoli, 2010)
• New Order (Rizzoli, 2015)
• Assassinated Beauty: Photographs of the Manic St Preachers. London: Faber & Faber, 2014. ISBN 978-0571312139.[23]
• Telling Stories: Photographs of The Fall. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2022. With a foreword by Simon Armitage. ISBN 978-1784728250.

In November 2009, Cummins was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Music Photography award by the music industry website: Record of the Day.[31]

In 2015 Cummins was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Arts) by Manchester Metropolitan University.[32]

Cummins' work is held in the following permanent collections:

• National Portrait Gallery, London: 4 prints (as of 12 October 2022)[1]
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London: 7 prints (as of 12 October 2022)[6]