Paul Berriff Talk: My life behind the camera

Due to popular demand Paul Berriff is returning to the JCG to give an updated talk about his extraordinary adventures as a photographer and film cameraman.

Paul’s talk covers his beginnings as a teenage press photographer in the early 1960’s and, via stills photography and film and video footage, traces an astonishing career that has seen him work with many 20th century icons, win 2 BAFTAs and have several life-endangering adventures along the way. Paul’s talk ends with his intense and incredible filming at the site of the Twin Towers disaster in New York on the fateful day 0f 09/11.

Paul’s talk comes in the wake of his captivating art installation at the site of the new Treadmills development - the former Northallerton prison - featuring Paul’s 1960’s Rock Legends’ portraits.

Paul will be presenting his talk on Friday 14 September

Tickets £17.50

From his beginnings as a Press Photographer in Yorkshire in the sixties, Paul moved on to become a news cameraman for BBC Television News from where he joined the BBC Current Affairs Unit and moved into documentary film making. Paul has subsequently created, shot, produced and directed over 180 prime time major network television documentary films.

During his filming exploits, Paul has survived a major helicopter crash, leapt to safety from a sinking ship during a North Sea gale, escaped a volcano erupting around him in Nicaragua and was the first cameraman on the scene of the 1988 Piper Alpha Oil Rig incident. On September 11, Paul was filming with FDNY's Deputy Chief Fire Commissioner at the World Trade Center when both the twin towers collapsed on top of him knocking him unconcious. It was 25 minutes before he was able to crawl out of the debris, his camera was smashed but his tape showing the iconic sequences of the south tower collapsing survived.

This highly entertaining talk is not to be missed.