Michael Ormerod (1947-1991) was a British photographer with a distinctive and powerful voice, whose career was tragically cut short on August 7th 1991 in a road accident on his last field trip to the USA. He is known for striking and evocative images capturing American landscapes and urban scenes. His work often depicted the raw, gritty reality of life in America, showcasing both its beauty and its challenges.
Born in Hyde in Cheshire in 1947, Ormerod studied economics at Hull University, before going on to study photography at Trent Polytechnic. He ran a freelance photography business in Staffordshire for many years and taught photography at Newcastle College. He spent many of his Summers from the mid-70s to 1991 travelling in a camper van across America. Fascinated by the American image, and following in the footsteps of Robert Frank, Ormerod took to the American West to find a washed out dream of capitalism. His images capture a strange juxtaposition of an American beauty tainted by a hidden sense of menace and corruption.
