Elton John Collects Garry Fabian Miller

It's true. Elton John collects the ethereal, spiritual work of camera-less photographer Garry Fabian Miller. Miller's work is currently featured in a show of camera-less photography at the V&A, along with two of my other favourite artists, Susan Derges and Adam Fuss (Shadow Catchers, 13 Oct 2010 - 20 Feb 2011), and this astonishing fact was revealed in a spot this week on Radio 4's Today Programme.

Now, I knew EJ collected photography, but I'd assumed we were talking about Robert Mapplethorpe or maybe John Dugdale, with a bit of Jim Marshall or some flamboyant colour kitsch thrown in (spoiled for choice, there). Don't get me wrong, I like some Elton John. I think "Your Song" and "Daniel" are masterpieces, though it's been a long, long road since then, it's true. There was a notorious morning assembly I remember fondly which I and some friends put on at secondary school which involved playing, in darkness, first EJ's "Sixty Years On" and then the entirety of "The Joke" from High Tide's second album. Such larks! The Head was not happy.

But Garry Fabian Miller....If you don't know his work (and you should) his extremely lovely book Illumine is still available, often dirt cheap on Ebay and used book sites, though I suspect this exhibition will raise his profile and thus his used book prices considerably. There's a decent selection of his work at the Ingleby Gallery site. But Elton and Garry... Maybe I'm amazed (sorry, that's the other guy).

Oh, and Susan Derges, apparently, is collected by Colin Greenwood of Radiohead and his wife, the novelist and poet Molly McGrann (it says here, in The Independent). Hmm, this blog is turning into a society gossip column...*

N.B. if you're in the London area and not otherwise occupied on Guy Fawkes night, Garry Fabian Miller and Susan Derges are giving a talk at the V&A : here are the details.

* I do hope these wealthy collectors have properly investigated the archival properties of colour print paper which has been immersed in seawater.