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John B Turner |
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| Matakana PicturesExhibitions Artists |
John B. Turner (b.1943) is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the Elam School of Fine Arts, at The University of Auckland. His serious involvement in photography began in camera clubs in the late 1950s, when he was a pupil at Petone Technical College. He trained as a compositor in the printing trade in Wellington during the early sixties, then became a news and commercial photographer. He joined the then Dominion Museum as photographer in the mid-sixties and also began writing about aspects of practical photography, criticism and the history of photography. He taught numerous workshops throughout New Zealand, and curated landmark exhibitions including Nineteenth Century New Zealand Photography (1970) and Baigent, Collins, Fields: Three New Zealand Photographers (1973). He was editor of PhotoForum magazine from 1974-1984, and later from 1990 to the present. In addition to teaching photography at Elam since 1971, he was Director of the Elam Fine Arts Printing Research Unit from 1985-1995. In 1991 he studied the History of Photography with Van Deren Coke and Bill Jay at Arizona State University at Tempe. He was co-author with William Main of New Zealand Photography from the 1840s to the Present (1993) and was editor of PhotoForum’s award-winningbook, Ink & Silver (1995). His book Eric Lee-Johnson: Artist with a Camera was published in 1999, and he continues work on various projects, as a teacher, writer and photographer. [230 words]. |
Achernar 10.February - 2.April 2006
John B. Turner: Self-portrait with Ron Treneary, The Peninsula Barber Shop, Harbour View Road, Te Atatu Peninsula, Sunday 18 April 2005. These photographs of people and places in Te Atatu Peninsula are part of an ongoing essay on the area I live in. The were all made over the past 12 months and being in colour they represent a new approach for me. Although I made my first colour slides when I belonged to the Lower Hutt Camera Club in the early 1960s, and have exposed hundreds of slides and colour negatives since then, I have only ever exhibited my black & white work. The main reason for this is that I am colour blind (a condition that means I simply cannot see certain colours–particularly in the green-red spectrum) and am unable to confidently identify some of the colours I can see. When other photographers mastered the silver-based colour processes that became easier and more readily available from the late 1970s, it made no personal sense for me to learn colour printing because I couldn’t take that aspect of my work seriously. Today, with the availability of sophisticated digital photography and digital printing, I have embraced colour photography with new excitement, despite my limitations. For me, part of this delight comes from having a digital camera with a combination of features that I’ve never had before—auto focus, auto exposure, auto wind on, a zoom lens and more and cheaper “film” in the form of 1 gigabyte memory cards. All of which encourage greater spontaneity and experimentation. Then there’s the quick playback facility to show the early results to your subjects and yourself. (These wonderful features are likely taken for granted by the new generation of photographers, of course.) Viewing and editing images on the computer monitor is also a joy, and being able to zoom in and out of the pixels to pick up more and more exquisite detail is akin to the experience of discovering new things in a nineteenth century contact print under a magnifying glass. Despite the ease of gathering new images and prints in gorgeous colour without the darkroom to contend with, the path to achieving plausibly naturalistic digital colours is proving to be every bit as demanding as classic silver based colour printing. Digital inks and papers also have their unique characteristics to negotiate and adapt for personal expression and image stability. Consequently, one is reliant on the experts to calibrate and standardise the tools we now use, and I am still obliged to seek guidance from those whose colour sense I have learned to trust. To get back some of the control I like to have, I may have to go back to black & white. But then, as my friend Paul Gilbert reminded me, when he noted the reckless abandon with which I’ve gone colour, that’s easier too. A simple mode change on the computer or camera can delete those pesky colours. Te Atatu Peninsula, in West Auckland, where we have lived for the past nine years, is part of the fast growing Waitakere City. Te Atatu means “the dawn.” Barely 60 years ago, the whole area, now split into north and south by the Western Motorway, had a population of less than 300. It was known for its poultry farms and orchards, of which none are left. Our annual Christmas Parade features more than 300 people these days, and its small town unpretentiousness reflects its metamorphoses from a working class to middle class village. New subdivisions have been established to accommodate new Aucklanders from many countries. A long-promised marae has not yet been built, and the land used by the Te Atatu Pony club is under threat. Small businesses come and go. Sections are subdivided at an alarming rate. Traffic jams on the road to the motorway are more frequent. Meanwhile, as I get to meet more of its inhabitants while walking our streets with a camera, I’m excited by its sense of old familiarity and new diversity. That’s what I’m trying to capture. |
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John B Turner 1. Wari Sha Khan, Gunner Drive, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 9 July 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 2. Te Atatu Meats, Te Atatu Road, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 12 January 2005 Price: $700 unframed |
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John B Turner 3. Peppermint Twist, Te Atatu Road, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 6 May 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 4. Te Atatu Traders, Te Atatu Road, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 12 March 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 5. Te Atatu Pony Club, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, Sunday 8 January 2006 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 6. Donna Gillespie, Titan’s Pet Shop, Te Atatu Road, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 12 March 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 7. Youth group, Te Atatu Road, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 5 March 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 8. Hereford Street, Anzac Day, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 25 April 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 9. Hot dog stand, after Christmas Parade, Te Atatu Road, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 2 December 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 10. After Christmas parade, Jack Pringle Park, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 2 December 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 11. Te Atatu Pony Club, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, Sunday 8 January 2006 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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John B Turner 12. Auction balloons, Renata Crescent, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, 3 April 2005 Price: $700 unframed, matted/$850 framed |
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