John Londei – Artist Research

Whether in colour or black & white, location or studio, John Londei’s forte is people: young, old, famous, infamous and all shades in between. His photographs also appear in books and magazines worldwide. In addition to commercial work for clients he also shoots personal projects on large format cameras. Londei has worked with high profile clients such as Royal Mail, British Telecom and British Airways.

John displays a range of portraits under the category ‘people’ on his website. This gives me a hard job of reviewing and critiquing his work. The various images display a candid characteristic and a style that is very open to interpretation. He does not primarily shoot in colour or black and white, and his website shows no evidence of his projects. Although, I know of various projects he has worked on, such as ‘Shutting up Shop’ where Londei documented a series of fast disappearing shops and shopkeepers. The portraits were shot strictly on 10×8 and described as ‘a definitive tribute to a vanishing era.’ The project has been published as a book called ‘Shutting Up Shop,’ and has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of London to name a few.

From looking though a selection of John Londei’s work it is evident he has traveled and in travelling has met copious amounts of people from different backgrounds with different interests. I think his website has been created to show a large range of work but in doing so the message has become confused. I began to noticed trends in his portraiture, trends that define his style and make for interesting images. For instance when shooting in a portrait orientation he generally places his subject(s) in the centre of the frame; and when shooting in a landscape orientation he places his subject(s) just off centre, not enough to class as ‘rule-of-thirds.’ His style makes him individual as a photographer, something large organisations look for when commissioning.

Below I have chosen a selection of images demonstrating his unique style of portraiture and the variation within his work.

In this image colour and contrast are strong with the eye contact setting the mood. In many of Londei’s portraits there is something that doesn’t quite sit right in the image, in this photo it would be the two dogs. They make the picture unusual and therefore interesting.

This image features an unusual composition, adding to the theme of unusual elements. The group portrait is humorous with the colours working with each other to create an image that looks balanced. As previously mentioned generally he places his subjects in the centre of the frame, leading your eye to the point he wants you to focus on.

This image is entirely different to his ‘normal’ portraits. The inclusion of elements that set the scene so strongly is abnormal in his style. Again eye contact is prevalent creating a stronger bond with the viewer. As the only caption/description is ‘Simon, Trunkey Creek, New South Wales, Australia’ we know little about the subject. Although this is the case the image has many elements allowing the viewer to decide the scenario.

I wanted to include a black and white image to show how his work changes through the use of different mediums. With this photo I wouldn’t called the composition attractive but Londei gets away with it because of the strong facial expression. His use of high contrast photography is transferred through different mediums but in sticking with his style, the viewer is encapsulated by the strange situation.

Natural light is predominantly used through-out Londei’s work. His use of film creates tones which help the subject to work with the background. His use of posed, environmental portraits allow the viewer to make a connection with the subject whilst still allowing the image to portray the location and situation. This being one of my favourite images by Londei features large; naturally softened window light, lighting one side of the workers face, leaving the darkness to our imaginations.

Shutting up shop

Johns documentation of traditional shops closing takes viewers back in time, that way he gives us an insight into something different. All the images from the series are well balanced, we are told exactly what the shop sells and who the owners/employees are. The owners are generally surrounded by their shops goods and in an environment that instantly tells us their relationship to what they sell. Each of their expressions say something different, some show their love for their business where as with others you can see they have lost their love and their time running the business is coming to an end. Because the project was shot in film, the old style of the shops is greatly emphasised. Under each image there is a caption telling us the name of the shop owner and a short backstory, this makes the photos more personal to the viewer and we gain more of an understanding. Below I have analysed four images from the project ‘Shutting up shop.’

The wide angle vignetting pulls the viewer to the centre of the images, this has been purposely done to give the subject the most attention. With all of Londei’s images the colours are colours are a strong pull. The tonal ranges pull the image together and helps the subject to fit into their surroundings.

This is one of Londei’s images that was shot in a portrait orientation. This shot could’ve easily worked in landscape but Londei chose to shoot portrait so their was context around the background. Because of his decision we can see the height of the shelves behind the chemists and we get a more of a sense of placement.

With some images Londei chose to hide his subject amongst the items found in the shop. This forces the viewer to look closer into the image and pick out the persons details, as the viewer is hunting through the images they are seeing many other kinds of details. This style of image is subtly interactive and gives the viewer the most from the picture.

Through the series Londei keeps his images similar but at the same time he shoots using many different methods. This photo combines an offset subject in context with a mass of expression and colour. For me the subjects make this image, we are drawn to them first and the surrounding environment comes after. The way we read an image has been thought about when composing this shot. As we read images from left to right the subject comes into play first and this is where we would feel the first response. From then on the background plays its part, it tells us the life the people live and a place they are comfortable with.