INTRODUCING JON AUSTIN
I’m from Leeds, United Kingdom. It’s a nice city. Apparently it’s 25ºc (77 F) outside today, but it’s usually just above freezing point. Apart from that, it’s a lovely place. Yorkshire people are very friendly, and there is a certain charm to northern England that I love. I’m 25. 26 in a month. 26 sounds a lot older than 25. I started taking pictures about 6 or 7 years ago. I went on a walk with my family around this castle. My older sister had a digital camera. I put it in black and white mode and thought I was dead arty. It all spurred from there. I just started to enjoy it as a hobby. You know taking pictures of flowers and trees and all that boring stuff. I remember the turning point was when I was at a friends house. His house mate had a copy of Martin Parr’s The Last Resort. My perception of photography changed from that moment. The colours were so vibrant! and the images were of real people and real situations. I started realising there were all these amazing photographers that I wasn’t even aware of for the past 18 or so years of my life. So I started buying lots of books and just appreciating it all. I don’t think I have any goals. Not consciously at least. Maybe to make people smile. I think I take photos from quite an optimistic viewpoint. I am attracted to bright colours and humble situations. I mean I just feel like certain moments or objects need to be captured, or i’ll never see them again, and that’s sad. My life hasn’t dramatically changed since I started taking pictures. It Just turned me into a freak who is always looking around for photo opportunities. And it’s turned me into a social retard. I made a little book last year. Just a small run. But I’ve sold them, and that makes me feel good. So I guess that would of never happened if I didn’t take pictures. I studied music at university, so if i weren’t taking photos i’d probably be a rapper or something. But in terms of photography for me, it’s still early days. The past years have just been a play around of sorts. I’m starting to think a bit more seriously about it all now. I want photography to make me loads of money so I can buy my mum a house in Spain like I always promised. That’s the materialistic side of me. Other than that, I just want it to take me places and give me the chance to meet and photograph new, interesting people. I have always liked 35mm. I currently use a contax g2. But i went through a couple of rangefinders before I settled with that. I am getting into digital now. Why not hey? I love love love film, but i’m willing to give digital a go. People think too much about the equipment (including me) and forget about the more important things. But, this would be my fetish camera - Leica m7 Hermès edition - The brown one obviously. Wouldn’t use it though. Would just frame it. I took this picture in a small town in Provençal France, called L’isle sur la sorgue, just outside of Avignon. They were doing this jousting on the river in these special converted boats. You know what jousting is right? Traditionally it’s two guys on horses who run at each other with a massive spear thing and whoever gets knocked off is the LOSER! Think it’s from medieval times, but google it if you want. Anyway.. they were doing this, but on boats. There was quite a big crowd watching, I was pretty excited, but it was a major disappointment. The boats were moving at a snails pace and rather than the impact of traditional jousting, the guys were just prodding each other off into the river. So my camera turned to this couple. They were enjoying the event, and they were enjoying each other’s company, and they had similar hairstyles which was cute. The light and the colour was crazy that night, I just instinctively took this. Jacob Lillis, another chap from Northern England who captures his surroundings so well. For people who didn’t know, this is what Yorkshire looks like. Jake’s images have such a sense of nostalgia to them. When I look at them I can almost smell the yorkshire air. Really talented guy and a true gent. He’s based in London now, but he hasn’t let them southerners douse his northern charm. I’m a sucker for American photographers too. Emiliano Granado’s work is so good! The images are oozing with charm and bursting with colour and I love his choice of subject matter. He also seems to have quite an optimistic viewpoint on his subjects. Photos that make you smile.
