John Blakemore 1936-2025

[mrtoml]

John Blakemore: Photographer who 'inspired a generation' dies

Born in Coventry, John Blakemore became a key figure in post-war photography, experts say.

www.bbc.co.uk

I just learned that John Blakemore has died. His book John Blackmore’s Black and White Photography Workshop was a big influence on me back in the day and a book I still read from time to time; though now sadly out of print.

His idea of repeatedly going back and concentrating on one subject and taking care to print the work (in his case the famous tulips are probably the most well known example) was what led me to repeatedly photograph and print images of pears which I still do to this day.

His work has been archived in Birmingham in the UK. There is an interesting interview with him about this here:

 

[mrtoml]

Ted Forbes (The Art of Photography) recently did a lengthy interview with one of John Blakemore's friends which goes into detail about his approach for those who might be interested.

 

[trix4ever]

He was a huge influence on me too, I always wished I'd been able to go to one of his workshops but I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Usually overseas.
I particularly loved his wind and sea photos which were made with multiple exposures rather than the long single exposures so popular now.

 

[mrtoml]

He was a huge influence on me too, I always wished I'd been able to go to one of his workshops but I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Usually overseas.
I particularly loved his wind and sea photos which were made with multiple exposures rather than the long single exposures so popular now.

They discuss those in the video. There is one where he did 48 exposures on one sheet of film to capture the effects of the wind using a 4x5 camera.

I am fortunate to have some of his books which I think are all out of print now.