John Gould
Introduction
John Gould has been taking photographs for most of his adult life. Together, with his twin brother, he learned the rudiments of black & white darkroom technique on what was largely a converted metal turning lathe. The magic of watching a print develop has never left him from those early days. The following portfolios serve to illustrate his first passion, namely portraiture and more lately what can be termed ‘travels with a camera’.
John's philosophy
John’s photography is driven by the desire to portray (to others) the individual way he views his photographic subjects - whether they are people or landscapes. A number of factors influence this outlook and can be found in the works and approach of a handful of photographers. These include photographers such as Steilgitz, Steichen, Coburn and others of the Photo-Secession movement. One in particular is the Spanish photographer - Echagüe. Sadly none of these people are alive today but the legacy of their creative talents endures. What appeals about their work is the feeling of emotion they captured. Not for them the pin-sharp photograph but rather techniques which exploited tone and texture to create a wonderful sense of diffusion and indistinctness.
John’s work attempts to mirror these feelings through the deliberate use of diffusion at the taking stage and/or development/printing methods to reinforce that notion. Before visiting a place he has a clear idea of what and how he wants to show the photographs he takes. For example the pictures of Spain were “lith” printed to a soft degree and then Gold toned to give a distinct warm blue colour – whilst that may seem a contradiction in terms the idea was to bring across the feeling of the Summer heat prevailing when they were taken. The feeling he had of Italy was of a richness of art and culture and the pictures taken were printed on a paper which responded well to split Selenium toning to give that sense of richness.
Latterly he has photographed Venice with a 5x4 camera using a soft focus lens and Polaroid Type 55 film. This black & white film not only provides a print but also a very good negative. But if, as John has done, the negative is not cleared as recommended by Polaroid but allowed to “age” then over time a certain deterioration will take place. This process has been exploited to produce pictures which show his feeling that, sadly, Venice is disintegrating.
contacting John
Telephone 01452 616314