About

‘It is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do… It is an innate gift, varying in intensity with the individual’s temperament and environment.’ Bill Brant

A description of my work by Britart Eyestorm:

The landscape of consumer society is full of hi-tech environments, precisely designed to prime us for the excess of information, entertainment and the endless opportunities for individual satisfaction.

Award-winning photographer John Morrison’s remarkable photographs present us with the pristine, machine-like spaces of commercial culture with hallucinatory precision. Exaggerated perspectives of interior design that vanish into the distance, consoles and seating ready for use, Morrison’s pictures pull back from the content of modern culture to focus on the form of its delivery.

Everywhere you turn in Morrison’s world you notice that screens have turned blank; the video monitor, the computer display, the cinema screen or advertising panels in the underground are empty of the web pages, in-flight movies, commercials, and pop promos we expect.

And this absence is repeated in the empty spaces that should be full of people, revealing a strangely purified world where the structure of what we experience becomes the subject.

Morrison’s images are brilliantly seductive, yet by glamorising their subjects, they also subtly undermine the easy charms of the digital culture that surrounds us, giving us a space in which to stand back and observe the saturated surface of the information economy.

Like all good art, his images allow us to gain a new perspective on familiar things. Using the experience of a photograph, Morrison reminds us of all the time we spend amongst the Internet cafes, airports, undergrounds and fitness clubs, and how good it is to look at something different, once in a while. Britart.

Pursuing other interests in design and education over the past ten years has meant not much time for personal photography projects. However, my new job as a lecturer Edinburgh Napier University has inspired me to start realising some of the many ideas, which have been filling my sketchbook.

Can see myself investing in one of www.stills.org new, excellent value month passes, for using their darkrooms and digital production facilities. (Good one Evan :)

This site contains only my own work, by its nature Tumblr is a social platform and I am happy for users to re-post. However please respect my copyright and include attribution when sharing photographs and posts.

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Torsten Grewe (2012) Berlin.
From a series titled ‘Unarmed’. Although not visible in the final Photograph, the sitter is holding a cable release and decides the moment the shutter is fired. Democratising the power which normally belongs exclusively to the photographer.
© John L Morrison

Torsten Grewe (2012) Berlin.

From a series titled ‘Unarmed’. Although not visible in the final Photograph, the sitter is holding a cable release and decides the moment the shutter is fired. Democratising the power which normally belongs exclusively to the photographer.

© John L Morrison



Torsten Grewe, Contact Sheet (2012) Berlin.
© John L Morrison

Torsten Grewe, Contact Sheet (2012) Berlin.

© John L Morrison

Maxence Villien (2005) Polaroid. 
© John L Morrison
5x4 Polaroid study
Using a Sinar 5x4 camera has its challenges but I personally loved seeing the world upside-down and back-to-front on the ground glass screen. This fresh perspective, enables a new way of seeing, allowing you to spot patterns invisible to the eye when everything is the right way round.

Maxence Villien (2005) Polaroid. 

© John L Morrison

5x4 Polaroid study

Using a Sinar 5x4 camera has its challenges but I personally loved seeing the world upside-down and back-to-front on the ground glass screen. This fresh perspective, enables a new way of seeing, allowing you to spot patterns invisible to the eye when everything is the right way round.


Mena Vieira
© John L Morrison
5x4 Polaroid study

Mena Vieira

© John L Morrison

5x4 Polaroid study

 
Damian Ucieda
© John L Morrison
5x4 Polaroid study

Damian Ucieda

© John L Morrison

5x4 Polaroid study

Mattias Fredrik Josefsson
© John L Morrison
5x4 Polaroid study

Mattias Fredrik Josefsson

© John L Morrison

5x4 Polaroid study

 
Julien Voisine 
© John L Morrison
5x4 Polaroid study

Julien Voisine 

© John L Morrison

5x4 Polaroid study

Ahmed Burwaiss
© John L Morrison
6x6  Kodak Technical Pan 25
The superfine detail and rich contrast of this ISO 25 film is something I have not been able to recreate with digital cameras.
It is a sad reality that 10 years ago you could produce photographs which are technically superior than what is possible with todays digital cameras. I lament films which are no longer manufactured like Fuji’s amazing NPL. It produced exceptional colour and tonal detail in artificial lighting, even with exposures exceeding one hour. 

Ahmed Burwaiss

© John L Morrison

6x6  Kodak Technical Pan 25

The superfine detail and rich contrast of this ISO 25 film is something I have not been able to recreate with digital cameras.

It is a sad reality that 10 years ago you could produce photographs which are technically superior than what is possible with todays digital cameras. I lament films which are no longer manufactured like Fuji’s amazing NPL. It produced exceptional colour and tonal detail in artificial lighting, even with exposures exceeding one hour. 

Ahmed Burwaiss
© John L Morrison
6x6  Kodak Technical Pan 25

Ahmed Burwaiss

© John L Morrison

6x6  Kodak Technical Pan 25

Adrift (2002) c-type. Zurich, Switzerland.

© John L Morrison

Taken from a bridge over the Limmat in the city centre, shortly after it exits a hydro electric power station. 

Adrift (2002) c-type. Zurich, Switzerland.

© John L Morrison

Taken from a bridge over the Limmat in the city centre, shortly after it exits a hydro electric power station. 


(via johnlmorrisonsketchbook)