Venetia Dearden was brought to my attention when Marco Santucci, her agent came to talk to us in our university lecture theatre. Before he signed her up Mr Santucci claimed he was initially not too impressed with the commercial work she was producing but absolutely loved her personal projects that documented her intimate portrayal of Somerset life. He suggested to her that she remove the commercial stuff from her website and that she should really highlight her personal stuff. The agency encouraged commercial work for her that played to her strengths and allowed her to stay true to her natural photographic style.

I am however in love with her personal Somerset work

Her Somerset photos have been published as a book, Somerset Stories: Fivepenny Dreams by Kerher Verlag.

Venetia Dearden's book Another Stage (2010) celebrates the fortieth anniversary of the Glastonbury festival, and her fifth consecutive year of shooting in a studio on site. On display will be photographs ranging from Shirley Bassey to Lily Allen, Pete Townshend and Leonard Cohen, to festival goers of all ages. Dearden grew up next to the festival site and has been involved with Glastonbury since a young age.

Leonard Cohen, Shirley Bassey, Carrie and Justin

To celebrate her new book, she has a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

19 April - 26 September 2010

In The Bookshop Gallery

Free