Some of Parkinson’s most radical and forward-looking photographs were modelled by Wanda, his wife. She once told a story of being on a shoot with him in Africa. As she sat astride an ostrich, waiting for instructions, something startled the bird and it bolted. Careering past Parky, as he was always known, fearing for her life, she knew that if the shot looked good, her husband would do nothing to stop the stampede. Sure enough, as she flashed past him, she heard him cry: “Marvellous, darling! Can I have just a little more profile?” It was typical of his insouciant confidence that he knew both wife and photograph would be fine. And if, from certain viewpoints, Parkinson’s eccentricity dulled his achievements, there is also no doubt that the man once described as being “attached to all long-legged creatures, particularly racehorses” holds a secure place in the history of 20th-century fashion photography as a result.
Norman Parkinson: Portraits in Fashion is at the National Portrait Gallery, WC2, from Wednesday until January 16, 2005