John Street: slow photography

John Street uses an ultra-large format camera to compose unique, one-off photographs. “I use light as my paintbrush and this special, photosensitive paper as my palette, seeking to capture eternal beauty as expressed by changing Nature. The use of very long exposures and multiple lighting techniques, results in a painterly quality reflecting the ever-changing cycle of Nature. These are meditative pieces that have evolved in a conversation between the flower, the light, and the camera.”

The Tree

Title: The Tree

Limited edition print

Date: 26 Feb 1996

Dimensions: 65”x41”

Description: The Golden Elm (Ulumus) on the corner of Punt Rd. and Alexander Ave. with its enormous canopy. My favourite tree in Melbourne. Not thinking, just watching, following its life story through its root, trunk, branches and twigs.

The most baffling riddles solve themselves.

Number of exposures: 16 exposures ½ sec over 1 hour 50 mins

$1,750 - framed, 1 only

$1,350 - unframed

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Multi award winning photographer, John Street, changed the face of photography in Australia.

Fresh from the Swinging Sixties capital of London, where he had David Putnam as his agent and shot Twiggy and Shrimpton, Street arrived in Australia and quickly became the ‘must use’ photographer of all the major agencies. In an industry where most pictures have a lifetime of 1 billboard, Street’s pictures remained in use for up to 20 years.

What made his work so special was his use of light and composition. His work was revolutionary, all done in camera on very large format film. He won a Lion d’argent at Cannes, several Clios in New York, a Gold Pan Pacific and a host of local awards.

Today he works with Ilfochrome Classic; photosensitive paper 20 X 24 inches. This is directly exposed to the subject matter in a hand built camera, nicknamed ‘the dinosaur’ for its size. No negatives or transparencies are made, just one-off, truly original prints. The subject matter celebrates Nature at its most beautiful.

To produce each of these images a sheet of 20" x 24" (approx. 51 x 61 cms) photographic paper is fitted to the back of Street’s custom-made camera and exposed for up to 45 minutes. During the extended exposures, various light sources are used to illuminate the subject from different angles and to modulate the spectrum of colour being captured by the camera.