Great British - John Blakemore

 

There are probably few living photographers who have been as influential as John Blakemore over the years. Yet his star does not burn as brightly as Bailey, McCullin or Parr, whom most people would name immediately. 

Blakemore was born in 1936 and discovered photography while on national service with the RAF in Aden. Self-taught, as most people were at that time, he returned to his hometown of Coventry determined to record the re-construction of the city. He had become inspired by Edward Steichen's "The Family of Man" which he had seen in a copy of Picture Post sent by his mother while abroad.

He worked as a photographer initially for Black Star agency and then in a number of studios producing portraits and commercial work. He also became a printer of black and white photographs - of which he has become a master over the years learning, and using, the Zone System made famous by Ansel Adams

After a spell as a photographer at Courtaulds he left Coventry and joined his friend Richard Sadler as a lecturer of creative photography at Derby College of Art, later becoming Emeritus Professor of Photography at Derby University where he taught from 1970 until 2001.

Landscapes and still life are his main subjects and he is known for his handmade books, many of which are now in his archive in the Library of Birmingham. He has consistently championed the British countryside and landscape, working in the same small areas for many years to develop a close relationship and understanding of them. Working mainly in black and white he says that "the silver print is my chosen and primary means of expression". His book, "John Blakemore's Black and White Photography Workshop" is still held as a masterclass in landscape work. His landscape work has been described as richly nuanced which comes, at least aprtly from his printing techniques.

He is also famous for photographing tulips for over a decade of which he says "The tulip journey, then, was ultimately a visual journey, an investigation and discovery of visual possibilities. The tulip became an object of attention and fascination. It became both text and pretext for an activity of picture-making. The photographs are not finally, or not primarily, about tulips: they contain tulips. To say this is not to diminish the role of the tulip. Had the vase of flowers on the table when I made the first tentative exposures exploring the space of my kitchen been, let’s say daffodils, then the journey, if it had ever begun, would in all probability have been shorter. The daffodil, although it is a delightful flower, exhibits a stubborn rigidity of form; it lives and dies at attention. The tulip, however, is a flower of constant metamorphosis; it stretches towards the light and gestures to occupy the space." And that observation, perhaps, say what all photography is about.

You can visit his website here :- https://www.johnblakemore.co.uk/ 

There is also a recorded talk by him presenting his work from 1955 - 2016 at the Meeting of Minds conference in 2017 here;- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa8woJC-0lg