Viewing Playful and poignant – portraits by iconic British photographers David Bailey and Mary McCartney

This month in London is all about photography – May is the time to see the best work happening in the medium now. Where better to start than with two British photographers from the city, who have each helped to shape the image of Britain for their generation?

David Bailey, 86, is one of the most important photographers living today – born and raised in East London, Bailey struggled at school due to dyslexia and dyspraxia, but later found a creative outlet in the camera, and began working as an assistant to David Collins, then John French – by 1959 British Vogue had contracted him as a fashion photographer, and the rest is history; Bailey went on to shoot royalty, the rich and famous. He even inspired the lead character, Thomas in Antonioni’s film Blowup.

Bailey shook up the formal portrait genre with his informal, playful approach – and this exhibition selects some of shots that have made his work so significant, presented for the first time e alongside another photographer who has equally carved out a unique approach to portraiture: Mary McCartney. A friend of Bailey, McCartney, 54, is known for her diaristic, wistful and poetic pictures; brought together with Bailey the two form an intimate conversation, with plenty of high fashion and fun.