Blur drummer gives pupils insight into photography

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared his passion for photography with primary school pupils during an exhibition of his work in Brighton.

The musician introduced the children to traditional photography techniques, including the process of developing photographs.

Rowntree began photographing Blur in the early days of the band's career. At the time, he was not convinced the group would achieve lasting success and wanted to create a record of their journey.

Speaking about the experience, one pupil said learning how to take and develop photographs was "really cool", although they admitted it took longer than expected to see the finished image.

"It must be really exciting when it comes out," they said.

Another pupil joked about Rowntree's camera, saying: "I'd use it lots of times if I was patient, but I'm just like 1% patient."

Capturing Blur's journey

Rowntree said his decision to photograph the band came partly from the fact that indie music was not considered fashionable at the time.

"Indie music was incredibly unfashionable, and so I thought: 'We're only going to get 15 minutes of fame. I want to remember every second of the 15 minutes,'" he said.

As Blur's popularity grew, Rowntree eventually stopped photographing the band, before returning to the camera years later to document a different period in their career.

Looking back at his photographs, he said they captured the enjoyment the band experienced during their rise to fame.

"What shone through in the pictures was how much joy we were taking in it," he said.

The photographs are also featured in Rowntree's book No One You Know, which records significant moments in Blur's history, including their first world tour and their first visit to Japan.

Despite the band's long career, Rowntree said performing with Blur remains a special experience.

"Walking on stage with the three other lads is still incredibly exciting and playing together is still a magical experience," he said.

The exhibition, held at Indelible Fine Art, features previously unseen behind-the-scenes photographs of Blur from the 1990s and runs until 16 September.