The photographer known internationally as Paul Kaye has died at the age of 81. He was diagnosed with terminal Motor Neurone disease at the end of 2017.
Anthony Paul Cohen was brought up in Hendon during the Second World War, the son of Sam and Peggy Cohen. He was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as brittle bone disease, which led to many broken bones during his childhood from apparently minor injuries.
Despite this, Tony had an incredibly positive outlook from a very early age, and always focused on his good fortune, believing other people suffered with far more difficult circumstances.
He was educated at Hendon County School and in 1958, with three A levels and a secure job in advertising, he accepted an offer to help an Edgware photographer with darkroom work in the evenings.
He married his fiancée Adrienne Angel in 1959. On returning from honeymoon Tony found that the studio was struggling and he was without a job. So he decided the one thing he could do was take pictures. He bought second hand equipment and very nervously started knocking on doors where he saw prams or children. He changed his name from Tony Cohen to Paul Kaye, considering it more professional, and within a year became the most popular North West London children’s photographer.
He attributed his growing success partly to the JC’s tendency at that time to publish the addresses of families who sent in birth announcements. This led to his becoming a household name with local Jewish families for portraits, barmitzvahs and weddings. His Baker Street studio was established in 1967 and he gradually formed international connections after teaming up with his partner, the late marketing man Michael Freedman. This was a move which took him as far afield as South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Qatar, Malaysia and Nigeria, photographing families and many Heads of State – all this despite requiring major heart surgery from the age of 50.
While working in Brunei in 1985, he heard street sirens indicating the police escort for Prince Jefri, the Sultan’s brother. It seemed Jefri had an office in the same building where Paul was working, and so – just as he used to do when he started – he knocked on the door. The Prince commissioned Paul to photograph his family, as did the Sultan after seeing the pictures!
The subsequent ten year association with the Sultan’s family became Paul’s proudest connection. He particularly valued the chance to get to know the Sultan, his two wives and ten children personally. He took pictures every year for the Sultan’s birthday, and loved to tell the story of landing this connection in the same way as his earliest families – simply by asking.
Paul rose at the height of his career to chair the qualifications panel for two main professional bodies, the Royal Photographic Society and the British Institute of Professional Photography. He was also particularly proud that all three of his children and one of his grandchildren achieved their photographic qualifications as well as national and international awards.
In the mid 1970’s, while addressing a meeting of portrait photographers Paul suggested meeting regularly -–“to share ideas.” The result was the birth of the London Portrait Group, which has met monthly at Paul’s studio ever since; some members travelling from far afield. Paul also launched the monthly Photographers’ Bulletin, considered by many in the industry to be the photographers’ bible.
Paul was a wonderful family man, very practical and always there for anyone who needed him. He is survived by Adrienne, their children Simon, Julian and Su, seven grandchildren and his sister Barbara.
SIMON KAYE
Anthony Paul Cohen: born July 1, 1937. Died June 18, 2019.
