INTERVIEWS

Brian Sharland | April 2006

"In a day when more photographers are moving to the "quick fix" of digital or are exploring "contemporary themes" it was a real pleasure to see the sheer image quality of Anthony's black & white printing.

Mostly interpretative architecture in style his works are beautifully printed and presented and we were left very much wanting to see more. Anthony told us he works with a Hassleblad and prints on Ilford warm tone paper which certainly suits his iconic architecture subjects.

Anthony's exhibition with his quality of printing will only add to the argument for continuing to use silver gelatin papers and fine art printing. A strong exhibition from a thoroughly nice man!"
uklandscape.net

Article
F2 Freelance+Digital magazine
August/September 2005

Inspired Art Fair

Five or six years ago I bumped into a photographer selling his original black and white prints on the south bank of the Thames near the Festival Hall. As I was editing a magazine devoted to monochrome photography at the time, I stopped and had a chat to Anthony Jones and admired his first class work. In particular I was taken by an image of two black cabs, neither in its entirety, which screamed, 'London'.

A year later, I interviewed Anthony for the magazine I edited just before he had some of his work accepted by a prestigious gallery in New York. Since then he has had his work exhibited widely including in the Victoria and Albert Museum. His prints appear in many private and corporate collections and he has been published in a number of magazines.

Now he tells me that his work will appear at the Inspired Art Fair at The Bridge, Weston Street, London SE1 from 16 to 21 November. Have a look at his website (www.ajphoto.info) for further information and go along to the fair if you want to see some stunning black and white prints from Anthony.

Anthony Jones is a good example of a photographer who knew what he wanted to do and went about making his dream come true. If you want to sell original prints, you could do worse than follow in his footsteps.

The interview I had with Anthony is now on his website. Enter his website, click on 'A' in the box with 'APC' then scroll down to 'Publications' and click on 'The Black and White Enthusiast (Australia)'.

David Bigwood

 

Interview with
Black and White Enthusiast Magazine, 2000

Professional Profile

Anthony Jones
Fine art photographer I first met Anthony Jones about three years ago on the South Bank near the Royal Festival Hall alongside the Thames in London. I had been wandering looking for subjects for my camera when I passed Anthony with his black and white prints for sale. At the time I was running The Black and White Enthusiast organisation in Australia so I had to stop and take a look. I liked his approach to the subjects, most of which were London scenes and I particularly liked a shot of two black cabs, neither in its entirety but it shouted, "London" and the printing was superb.

We got chatting as photographers are wont to do and it transpired that usually Anthony would have been at the Greenwich Art and Crafts market but on that particular day he had been unable to get a stand. We maintained sporadic e-mail contact and when the revamped The Black and White Enthusiast magazine was being mooted an e-mail arrived advising of Anthony's exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum so the Publisher thought it a good idea for the Editor to interview the photographer that he had met serendipitously on the South Bank several years ago.

I met Anthony Jones for the second time at his home near Clapham Common. Two fine framed square prints with oversize mats to draw the viewer's attention to the subject were leaning against a couch. One was the old Battersea Power Station and the other a portrait of two sisters taken in Anthony's loungeroom using natural light. On a tripod was his Hasselblad while on a desk sat his computer, a vital part of his marketing strategy.

I asked whether the computer was used in the manipulation of his photographs. It isn't.

We sat and chatted and I asked Anthony when he took up photography. Instead of the old line of "it all started with a Box Brownie from my grandfather so long ago that I can't remember when" he surprised me by replying, "1987". Sadly he can remember as it was the year his father died and he used some of the money left to him to buy a 35mm camera - his first. He added, "Before that I used to paint. The paintings were very monochrome so it seemed the natural thing to turn to black and white photography." I suggested that this explained his interest in fine art photography and that his knowledge of painting would have given him a headstart with such things as composition. He agreed.

Anthony is very interested in architecture and enjoys the work of Brassai and Claude Atger. He also likes windows and is in discussion with Lacock Abbey about photographing "the window". "It's interesting to me that one of the first photographs, if not the first photograph, is of an architectural nature. And, if it's good enough for Fox-Talbot to photograph a window then it's good enough for me!" Anthony has had little formal training in photography and started by printing. "I put some black covers on my bedroom windows and did it." He used chromogenic film and had the negatives processed for him. He haunted exhibitions to study the experts' prints and assess what they produced and then printed his negatives to a similar standard. The system obviously worked as Anthony's printing is of superb quality.

Now he uses Kodak T-Max 100 in his Hasselblad, develops it in T-Max developer and prints on Ilford Warm Tone fibre base paper. As he uses a lot of blur and movement in his pictures, the slow speed of his film doesn't matter if the lighting is not great. He loves the square format of his Hasselblad - "you just can't lose." In the studio he uses a tripod but outside his shots are all hand held unless he's shooting at night. Natural light is his preferred choice in the studio but he admits that he should go and learn about studio flash.

When we got around to discussing the selling of his work it was obvious that I would refer to Greenwich as that is where he should have been on the day I met him on the South Bank and I asked how he got on there. Anthony replied that it was pretty dismal and even the low asking price of £30 was too expensive for most of the browsers. It turned out that he never did go back to Greenwich after our meeting. However, he has had success at several other art fairs which seems to indicate that the purchase of photography as fine art is increasing in the UK. The benefit of being at some of these high profile fairs is the opportunity that is there for photographers work to be seen and contacts made. In fact, on a couple of occasions, Anthony has, at the time unknowingly, made contacts that have led to unexpected sales and contact with the Ansel Adams Gallery in Carmel.

When Anthony quit his job six months ago to make his living out of photography, he spent around three months e-mailing all possible users of his photographs. This has resulted, among other things, in work with architects and interior designers to whom he always poses the question of how the pictures are going to be used before suggesting which images he considers appropriate. If you asked Anthony what he considers the most important part of marketing, I'm sure he would say, "Contacts". He uses his computer to e-mail pictures to potential buyers who have contacted him through his website or as a result of exhibitions. These come from overseas as well as the UK. As an example of contacts,

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When asked to sum up his philosophy about photography and how to succeed at it, Anthony said diversify then added with a smile "but within your specialization". In other words, he is diversifying within his speciality of fine art black and white photography by selling prints, accepting commissions, mounting exhibitions, making his work available for editorial and advertising use and being constantly on the alert for opportunities to market his images. When I asked about photographers who impressed him he didn't hesitate to say, "I am a great admirer of the work of Eve Arnold."

Anthony Jones' work has been shown at the Association of Photographers Gallery, Battersea Contemporary Art Fair, Image 99, SE1 Gallery and The Kensington Art and Design Fair. He is represented by the Corbis picture library and his work is in private collections and in the corporate collection of AXA (Sun Life & Provisional Holdings Plc).

From 19 July to 17 August his work, entitled "Look Here" and sponsored by Corbis will be exhibited in the Friends' Room of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

David Bigwood