I strongly suggest you go and look at his latest book on Afghanistan, and come back to me and find one single image that is good.
He may have been good in his day, when there were not many Photographers doing what he did, but in today's market............he would not stand a chance.
he is living of the legacy of what he did 40 years ago,.
Over a third of the shots in his latest book, I would of looked at on the back of my camera and simply deleted.
half of what these big names have going for them is their subject matter, the access they get. Take Linda McCartney for example, her images were rubbish but she had shots that no one would ever of been able to get.
I might be biased when using Afghanistan as an example for Bailey ( as he likes to be called, and yes I have met him) and his images, but Army photographers would wipe the floor with him, it is our playground........
He came out and everyone dropped everything for him, expecting some kind of miracle to happen, but it didn't.....he was purely "AVERAGE".
I could name a hundred Amateurs that would put him to shame, Dan Freeman on here....would stick it all over Bailey in MOST conditions.
.....do you want me to go on???
here is a clip my mate filmed of when he was out with us in the summer.........
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xf46dh_david-bailey-shoots-afghanistan-her_news
also check this guy out, and he is a total amateur..........
http://www.ianpayne.com/