Obituary: Richard Mewton

Richard Mewton 1949–2001

Richard Mewton, the BfK photographer, died tragically at his home in August 2001.

Richard was with the BfK team right from the beginning. His first assignment for us was to photograph Quentin Blake (Authorgraph 1); his last was in Sainsbury’s for a series of pictures for an article about supermarkets and children’s books in 1997.

Richard was always an integral part of the team and he was Books for Keeps – meaning he did the work more for love than money. A gifted portrait photographer and consummate photographic printer, his great asset was his ability, regardless of conditions or environment, to come up with a picture we wanted to publish. His enthusiasm, energy, his funniness, his sense of the quirky or the daft, his generosity, kindness, idiosyncratic use of the English language, his love of Louie his cat, his endless cups of tea, his DIY (‘I think I’ll probably come back as a piece of sandpaper, Rich’) – made him the very best of mates, one of mine at any rate. A man I loved, a sweet and very special guy.