Anne Sutcliffe Obituary

This is a reflective elegy on the life of Doctor Anne Sutcliffe, a collective tribute to Anne and all her achievements. She passed away in hospital, aged 73, in mid February 2024, lost to that unseen and unknown horizon, but leaving a host of lucid memories. Deeply sorrowful though her passing is for her close family & friends , and the many who knew her, both in Medicine and Photography, she lead a fascinating life. Anne was fuelled by ambition, and a determination to slipstream through all that she chased with undoubted skill, compassion and knowledge.

Anne’s personal story, her upbringing & early life, or what led her towards a career in medicine, are unknown. In this ‘rear view mirror’ on her life, the only pages we are able to turn are those about her involvement in photography, coloured by recall from those who knew Anne. In medicine she was highly respected by the staff she worked with as a senior anaesthetist , latterly at Solihull Hospital. Hers was a significantly luminous career, dedicated to caring & helping patients. Anne once wrote ” medicine has similar aspects to photography, both involved science and art”.

Anne immersed herself in so many areas of Photography from around 1980. Inspired firstly by her photographer father, but more specifically by her husband Alan Millward FRPS. Her membership of Solihull Photographic Society compounded that interest. Success in exhibitions, awards and distinctions followed. The Royal Photographic Society awarded her an ARPS in 1991, and a Fellowship in 1993. Onwards – Anne sat on the Licentiate panel, and later the Visual Art panel. She dispensed advice in a modulated lilac tone, could be firm and assertive when that was called for and at times could offer a certain defiance of convention. Anne was the RPS representative to the Photographic Society of America for 5 years, given the rare accolade of APSA for her exhibited work and services to photography, also attending the PSA conference in San Francisco in 2012. The RPS exhibited her work in Fenton house. Elected to The London Salon in 2007, Anne later became chair, involving herself totally. Also a member of Smethwick Photographic society, becoming its chair for 2 years.

Many would class her pictures in two distinct areas – carefully observed wildlife or natural environment studies, but more tellingly in ephemeral high key pictures, quiet in tempo, alluring in soft white chords, a recognisable style that became ever leaner as she portrayed the obscure, the un-noticed and a whole series of bathrooms!

The house that Anne ( Annie ) shared with Alan Millward, was a very random mix with regard to ornaments, reflecting Anne’s interest in geology. Stuffed birds inhabited shelves and corners, and many photographic prints were propped against walls. There were two lop-eared house rabbits , scuttling about, plus Frazer the dog ( I can’t tell for sure what make of dog he was) and the garden welcomed all manner of wildlife, Anne burying chocolate buttons and peanuts under paving stones for visiting badgers.

As the sun went down on her duet with Alan in 2013, dark days and melancholy echoes followed, leaving her with a permanent hurt. During that carnival life they shared together, they travelled many roads, took to the skies, saw distant places , collected pictures like pearls. In more recent times, she travelled alone. There was one long, involved trip Anne made around the Pacific Rim, visiting the volcanic chain of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska and Japan.

Even though she’s not around anymore and just now the pain and the memories are difficult companions, just remind yourselves of what Anne was to you, recall the smile, the way she would rush about, wine in her glass, red-haired & pencil slim, skin as pale as marble, her voice and the way she may well have coloured or touched your photographic life. Anne stated not that long ago that she hoped she had written a good story. Many have said I’ll remember her as a trusted friend, a significant mentor and very individual photographer.

Leigh Preston