About John

John Gravett first picked up a camera at the age of 9, he graduated to this first SLR, a Praktica, aged 12, and 2 years later, bought his first Nikon, a Nikkormat. Having stuck with Nikon for the past 40 years, he has amassed an embarrassingly large collection of cameras and lenses. Despite his Nikon loyalty, which is often the subject of good-natured banter with guests, John fiercely believes that it's where you point the camera that makes the picture, not the make of camera or lens you use.

There are very few days over the past 40 years that John has not picked up a camera, photography is a subject he is absolutely passionate about. His love affair with black & white photography started in 1982, when he attended a one-day masterclass with the world-renowned printer, Gene Nocon. John was inspired to perfect his darkroom skills, which later in the same year led him to a successful LRPS application, in black & white prints.

This was followed two years later with the first of his Associateships, again in black & white. John has led numerous black & white workshops at Lakeland Photographic Holidays, teaching darkroom work to many photographers over the years. In 2003, John bought his first digital SLR, and has since moved over totally to digital working.

All the same principles apply to the digital image, you need a high quality original file, with good shadow detail to ensure a high quality print. Only good quality paper will give good quality results, and even John's Photoshop methods are strongly influenced by traditional darkroom techniques.

John, together with his wife, Gail, has owned and operated Lakeland Photographic Holidays since 1999. Between them they have welcomed around 350 photographers annually on their workshops both in the Lake District, and in overseas destinations. Many of the pictures in this book are taken whilst out with guests, where John uses the digital camera as a teaching tool, enabling guests to see in the field, the type of images that can be created.

Interview with Ephotozine, Getting to Know John Gravett.