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,
SECTION EDITED HERE
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