Charlie Varley is a British freelance photojournalist who has travelled the world, documenting the sublime to the surreal, from celebrities and presidents to war and peace. He has spent time in Afghanistan documenting radical Hezb-e-Islami rebels in the mid nineties and covered three tours in Kashmir photographing civil war. He was in Hong Kong for the handover and was at one time the official photographer for the Chivas Regal sponsored Elephant Polo teams in Nepal.
He has lived in America since 1996, spending three of those years chronicling daily life across 48 states from the front seat of battered Ford Mustang before settling in New Orleans.
When Hurricane Katrina hit he was in the Hyatt when the glass came out. Charlie says. “I was standing next to the Mayor as the radios crackled with the news of collapsing levees. I was in the 9th ward as the waters rose. I waded through fetid water strewn with corpses and debris.
“I witnessed the destruction of one of the finest cities in America, her soul bared and exposed, her inequality and inefficiency laid out for all to see. And through it all I saw the grace, courage and dignity of her citizens, forced to flee their homes, their lives, their city and their history.
“I trust her soul will be repaired. May we never forget the displaced and those who perished. "
Charlie continues to document New Orleans, the region and her residents in their continuing battle to recover from the storm.
His images are consistently published in newspapers, magazines, books, on the Internet and on television around the world, including but not limited to the following publications;
Newsweek, Time, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, The Times, Sunday Times, The Sun, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Today, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, Independent, The Guardian, Observer, News of the World, Globe, National Enquirer, Stern, Paris Match, New York Times, LA Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Playboy, Voici, Ola, Hello, Sunshine International, Science et Vie, Impact Medecin, Presse Nouvelle, Bunte, Observer Magazine, ‘M’ Magazine, Red Cross International, Women’s Own, Women’s Weekly, Tattler, Dog Fanciers Monthly, Time Out, TV Times, Ariel, Guinness Book of Records, The New Orleans Tribune, The Lafayette Independent, South China Morning Post, MSNBC, ABC News, Channel 4, BBC, ITV , Wall Street Journal, Toronto Globe and Mail, Irish Independent, The Village Voice, Post Magazine, Baptist Press, Socialist Worker, Business Week, Essence Magazine, Equus Magazine, and many others.
His photographs appear in the book ‘One Dead in Attic’ by Times Picayune Columnist Chris Rose in New Orleans, published Feb, 2006. His images also appear in the Miami and Las Vegas 'Time Out Travel Guides'. An exhibition of his images are travelling the USA with the show ‘Artists in Exile.’
He is represented by news photo agency SIPA Press in New York and Paris and Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans. He is also represented by Laurie F. Jones in Bremerton, Washington through this web site.
He is available for commissioned work, be it media coverage, photojournalism, feature, corporate or private assignments and can be contacted through this site...........................
Autobiography
A bit about the photographer............. And they say photo-journalism is dead ?
Charlie Varley, British photographer born in Malaysia in 1967. Moved to England when young enough not to know better than to wear just a pair of wellington boots to investigate snow!
Won my first camera for a photograph entered into a competition by my Mum when I was 13 years old, photography was not considered a career option at school. Dropped out of school at 16 years old, went to college, moved to America, moved back to Britain, moved back to America and so on.
After a few attempts at working in warehouses, offices and then out on the streets delivering parcels on motorcycles in London somehow managed to get into Stradbroke College studying photo journalism in Sheffield. They wouldn't let me in at first. No published work, no place. Went to the newspapers, 'Gis'a job !' No job with no experience. Catch 22. Hounded the West London Newspaper group until they gave me some work when one of their photographers was away on holiday. Oxford journal then gave me a few weeks. Went back to Sheffield a year later and they gave me a place!
Landed a job on a local paper, The Andover Advertiser following college. Moved westward from there to Bristol where I worked for 2 years at South West News Service, the then prestigious news agency run by Colin Shepherd on the picture desk. From there traveled west again and ended up based in Miami for five years.
Countries visited on assignment include Great Britain, Ireland, USA, Canada, Nicaragua, Honduras, Brazil, Belize, Peru, Mongolia, China (and Hong Kong for the Hand Over), Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, The Bahamas, Trinidad, Mustique, Barbados, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands and posibly a few others that I may have forgotten about.
'It's a short life !'
