Our Patch JUNE 2016
STATE OF THE ARTS
Ffor 40 years photographer John Garrett stuck faithfully to spooling film through his trusty 35mm camera as he bestrode the globe – often accompanying journalist John Pilger on assignments to war-torn areas .
But John ( pictured above ), who lives in Hammersmith ’ s Brackenbury Village , finally embraced the digital age , realising the extraordinary potential of tweaking pixels .
The switch has liberated a lensman who arrived in London from Melbourne in the Swinging Sixties , captured iconic images of Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton – not to mention the world ’ s favourite portrait of a laughing John Betjeman , and who has inspired generations of snappers via a bookshelf of cool , calm , user-friendly ‘ how to ’ guides .
John , 75 , is staging his latest exhibition on the walls of a flat off Hammersmith Grove ; a dramatic , unsettling yet supremely sympathetic series of images of Mexico .
For a man who made his name in black and white photography , the inyour-face , punk colours he presents in his latest works are genuinely shocking .
“ My mates were amazed ,” he said as he leafed through a box of the A2-size prints ; many of them brightly tinted images of Mexican cemetery and grave art . “ After years of black and white , I really went into colour . Really !”
His outlook on life has mellowed . Once obsessed with the sharpness of pictures , he now loves the way colours bleed together into fuzzier , more abstract effects .
Reportage has taken him all round the world – to Bangladesh , India , Russia , Gaza , Belfast during The Troubles – but he has never been happy being pigeonholed as one type of photographer or another .
“ I ’ ve never been comfortable being described as a reportage photographer ; I ’ m just a photographer ,” said the bearded Bohemian .
Among his 13 books is the definitive 35mm Photographer ’ s Handbook ,
Talking heads : a reportage shot of a barber shop ; the purity of a black and white image of boxer Johnny Nelson from John ' s journalism days ; and the shocking colour of a Mexican cemetery
MEXICAN RAVE
From the land of mojitos and maracas , local photographer John Garrett has created an eye-catching show , writes Tim Harrison
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