"Edu is the real deal - he can really see that moment"
- Jay Kay
Edu Hawkins is a British music photographer. Born in Oxford in 1985, music was omnipresent from the start, and his teenage discovery of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan created a thirst for sounds rooted in the blues.
He graduated with a BA in History of Art from the University of Leeds, before combining the visual arts with his love of music through photography.
During a brief spell working at Redferns music picture library, he met founder David Redfern, a legend in the genre. The two became close friends and remained so until David died in 2014, leaving Hawkins his camera.
"You need three attributes: personality, tenacity, and, above all, the feel and the eye for the music. He has all three."
- David Redfern
David Redfern and Edu Hawkins at their joint exhibition at the Southbank Centre, LJF, 2013 Photo Credit: John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk
Having covered events largely in London, in 2010 he travelled to New Orleans for the first time, to document the music of the Deep South, solidifying his desire to shine a light on it. He has since covered a variety of national and international events, with his pictures licensed worldwide by Getty Images. His images regularly appear across a wide variety of television, magazine and newspaper media globally, with credits regularly including publications from Rolling Stone and Billboard to The Guardian and The Times.
Selected exhibitions of his work have included: New Orleans to Notting Hill (collaboration with Foale & Sons), The Tabernacle, London (2012). Unclosed Eyes: The Music Photography of David Redfern and Edu Hawkins, Southbank Centre, London (2013) and The Sage, Gateshead (2014).
"one of the great photographers"
-Trevor Dann, Former Head of BBC Music Entertainment.
Edu currently lives in Oxfordshire, and continues to follow his ears.