John Brooks

John Brooks

Successful British Artist John Brooks was educated in Bath where he majored in Art and Art history and History of Building. At 21 he acquired his first Rolleiflex 6 x 6 camera and started a progressive development of his compositional skills within the field of colour photography,

He has had exhibitions, both solo and joint of his work and was exhibited by invitation at the Arnolifini Gallery, Bristol in the "On Site” exhibition and in the Royal West of England Academy of Art open exhibition 2011.

His work entitled " A Dip in the Bridge" is currently on show at the Royal West of England Academy Autumn Exhibition amongst over 500 paintings, prints, sculptures and other works of art. This was one of the very few photographic works included by the Academy.

He concentrates on street photography and some landscape work and published his book “Hidden in View Photography” in 2011.

Any artform is a personal matter of taste and the interaction of the viewer with the subject matter. My years of study of architectural form through my work has shaped my perception of this subject. Also the artist has travelled extensively around the world since an early age. Consequently the many cultures and varieties of landscape have influenced his view of the world.

I have been particularily inspired by the work of Callahan and very much admire the work of, in no particular order, Steve Hiett, Robert de Gast, Paul Graham and Joel Meyerowitz. In the first 20 years of my work all images were created with my 50 year old Rolleiflex using Kodak VPS or Portra color negative emulsion rated at 160ASA.

Over the last five years my work has been mainly created using digital cameras and this has provided an interesting and almost instant accessibilty to me for reviewing my compositions. However, this has not in any way altered my approach or encouraged me to take more photographs. However I still use the Rollei and two 5x4 plate cameras, a Crown Graphic and a Cambo Calumet both of which are a pleasure to use.

Using an extemely light and colour sensitive camera fitted with a Leica lens has certainly made a difference in terms of the sensitivity and depth of composition which I believe is a good thing. Additionally more images now include people. I also do not believe in cropping images so you get what I saw!