LIFE LIGHT AND BEAUTY

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER JON GREEN

Jon Green is a very private, quietly spoken, gentleperson. His work is sensuous and evocative. It transports you - It’s like reading a text about the mysteries of life and beauty.  
His intuitive sense of movement gives a kinetic quality to supposed inanimate objects; like a freestanding rock.

I watched him deliberate over a photo he had taken of a small mushroom, he examined it with such care and attention to detail, it was inspiring! ‘It’s about getting the texture and depth of colour just right’ he said, then continued in silence, adjusting the tonal width, correcting the colour and contrast in order to replicate the essence and character of his subject.

I’ve seen him coax out the same depth of character with dancers as his subject matter. He manages to expose the ‘fire in the belly’, the deep passion and vulnerability that dancers conceal- the love of their art form. In the same moment he considers other perspectives - the form of the body, the contour of light, the narrative - and of course the composition of the image.
His sense of composition is choreographic without him ever trained as a dancer.

When you walk into his small town house the first thing you see are images, lots of them! stacked up against walls, leaning in hallways framed and unframed. The walls are covered with images of dancers flying through space or sensitively placed into landscapes, poetic, gorgeous. Then there are the large images of nature, churning seas and dark skies filled with rain-laden clouds; it makes the adrenalin rush into the veins.
These images are the sort of images that would be attractive to people from all walks of life.

Jon was born in Geraldton, Western Australia. He specialised in the science and photography stream as part of his diploma in photography at Leederville TAFE. He was awarded student of year in that particular course.
He has spent time working in the field with C.A.L.M. as a photographer attached to public affairs.
Currently he is engaged to document or photograph for Yirrayakkin, Perth Theatre Company, West Australian Ballet, Deckchair Theatre, Buzz Dance, and West Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

He will present an exhibition of works in April 2007 the venue is still unknown. “Journey into silence” will show examples of his photographs.
He has a dream to go to France to work in a different cultural environment. There is an art foundation residency programme in a place called La Napoule in the South of France. It hosts a programme for international artists to stay on site in a castle by the sea on a cliff, where artists are invited to create work inspired by the place itself and collaborate with the other residents to create artistic outcomes. Hmmm Bon Chance Jon! 

 

CHRISSIE PARROTT DECEMBER 2006