About the Photographer

I was born in Melbourne in 1958 and was given my first camera as a gift at 8 years of age. It was a cheap plastic toy really but it ignited a passion for creating images which I have had since. The earliest image I remember taking was on the morning I received it and was that of a kookaburra on a telephone wire! (Picture below) I had no idea that I wouldn't have a beautiful full frame image of the bird!!!!! Hopefully my photographic compositional & technical skills have advanced a little since 1966!

One of my first photographs - Kookaburra on a wire

In my teens I acquired my first SLR camera (a Praktika) and then a Mamiya 35mm SLR. I also commandeered my Mums laundry as a temporary darkroom for processing my own black & white prints. I guess the family washing just had to wait.

In the mid 1980's the Mamiya was replaced with a Nikon F301 & various lenses which I owned until it was stolen in a home burglary. Fortunately it was covered by our insurance and when I investigated what both Nikon & Canon had to offer, I decided to change brands & have had Canon equipment since.

I see the transition to digital photography as just being another way of capturing the world around us. Whilst some photographers feel very strongly about either the old or new ways I think that the important factor is the strengths of the image - not the medium that captured the photons!

I particularly enjoy nature, landscape and close-up photography. My own favourite images are often very simple in terms of composition. Photography is all about seeing the details that others may not see. It is the photographer who makes the image not the camera. It is all about selecting a viewpoint that creates an interesting image. Another critical factor is of course the light itself. The very word “Photography” itself is made up of words meaning, “light painting”. If the light is not interesting or suitable then a good image is unlikely to be made.

I am also a member of a local camera club and over the course of several years have won many awards for my photography including the champion slide at the 2002 Brisbane Ekka.

I hope that you enjoy my images as much as I enjoy creating them.

John Quixley - Copyright © 1999 - 2010