About

I bought my first camera, a Zenit EM in 1978 and set up a home darkroom in a spare bedroom. But by the mis 80s I was married with kids and a mortgage and working all the hours, so I ended up selling my kit, which I think was a Rioch KR-10 and a Yashica by that point. Scroll forward to 2008. I was made redundant and treated myself to an entry level Nikon DSLR. Not really knowing that much about photography, particularly post processing, I took mainly snap-shots, albeit some pretty decent snaps, because I have an understanding of composition and colour from my distant days of art classes and my love of art. In 2010 I was a category winner in a photography competition and my winning photograph was exhibited at the Natural History Museum, London. The photo was later used by the BBC in a trailer to advertise a new programme, "Weather World". 

Following a serious illness and having to finish work in 2016 I decided to join a camera club; Trostre & Velindre CC. It was here that I was introduced to Street Photography, a somewhat controversial genre that is not without challenges and challengers. In 2018 I left and joined Afan Nedd CC, a different type of club that better suited my needs and I also joined Cymru Mono, a specialist B&W club that meets monthly. The influences and influencers at these clubs have helped me grow and explore other photographic styles but then came Covid 19 and LOCKDOWN.

Because of my health problems I withdrew from club life early, notifying them on the 10thMarch that I wouldn’t be attending for a while; that was an understatement. Surprisingly, lockdown had a significantly positive effect on my photography. I had cleared out my home office and started using it as a small studio. Very small. I do all my processing, printing, mounting and framing in here. I’ll talk more on this later. As we were restricted to home I started doing some Table-Top photography but using a process of Simplification, which eliminates everything that doesn’t add to the final image, to emphasise this I adopted a Hi-key* style on many of these photos

I had never considered myself a landscape photographer and despite living in a forest, I’d never managed to take a decent photograph of a tree. I started watching some (lots) of YouTube videos by landscape photographers and started to learn how to photograph woodland. All the photos in my “Woodland” tab were taken in a 6 month period from late Autumn 2020 and all within ½ mile of my home on my daily walks.

What Next? While putting this together I have realised that I have done very little work around the coast, which is surprising considering I live on the edge of Gower, with some of the most beautiful coastline.

Whilst I love being able to show my work on this website and of course on social media, it is at its best as a print. In my home studio / workshop, I do my own printing and mounting, occasionally framing some, although the frames are shop bought. I sorely miss being able to show my prints at club competitions and exhibitions, and I also miss going to the numerous photography exhibitions to see other people's work. Here's hoping that these events will return to us soon. Meanwhile please enjoy my pictures here. 

Update: Well, here we are. It's 2023 and I never got around to working on my coastal images, mainly down to health problems limiting my mobility but I did have major surgery last September, which has helped significantly and I have recently been appointed a WPF Judge and I have a presentation, "Ain't No Sunshine" which I deliver to clubs.

Contact: waynemjohn@gmail.com  or find me on Facebook here  https://www.facebook.com/wayne.john.92    

 

Special Thanks to:

Keith Cooper (TCC) Street Photography

Gareth Martin*

Mike Clatworthy*

Dennis Russ

Alan Harris,  

YouTube Vloggers:

Thomas Heaton, Gavin Hardcastle, Adam Gibbs, Nigel Danson, Mark Denny