He is best known for his photography of music, film and club/ street culture - photographing everyone from James Brown to The Spice Girls, from Clint Eastwood to Johnny Depp - as well as photographing politicians (Tony Blair), gangsters ('Mad' Frankie Fraser), artists (Julian Schnabel), writers (Martin Amis), fashion designers (Vivien Westwood) and sportsmen (Tiger Woods). He has also photographed famous and sometimes influential British social scenes such as skinhead, fetish, club, punk and the New Romantics. Derek Ridgers's work has been exhibited internationally since the seventies in cities as far ranging as London, Paris, Moscow, Adelaide and Los Angeles, and in venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Museum of Modern Art, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Museum of London, Britart Gallery, Selfridges and the Victoria and Albert Museum.