Eric Swayne (1932-2007)

Pattie Boyd was dating photographer Eric Swayne at the time this photograph was taken. In her 2007 autobiography, Boyd remembers: Eric was not good-looking but quite cool - he had long dark hair and a straight, fine nose - and good company: he made everyone laugh. He lived in a flat in Chelsea Studios, a fifties building next to Chelsea football ground, with the photographer David Hurn next door. Grace Coddington, another model, who later became a legendary figure at Vogue, had the flat above. Eric was thirty and came from the East End of London. He looked up to David Bailey, who was from the same area. Bailey photographed Jean Shrimpton and they were emerging as fashion’s golden couple. I think Eric wanted to do for me what Bailey had done for Jean: he wanted to be my style guru. He wanted to show me how to do my hair and makeup and to help me with my modeling. In her 2022 photo book My Life in Pictures, Boyd credited Swayne as an influence on her development as photographer: Eric encouraged me to buy a camera and to ask questions of everybody I worked with, to check where they put their lights and to ask them about F stops. I was working and learning at the same time.

This image of Pattie Boyd is featured on the front cover of her 2022 photo book My Life in Pictures.