Overview
John Johns was a New Zealand photographer working from the 1950s to the 1990s. He focussed on the natural environment, especially forestry.
Early Life
John Johns was born in Devon, England, in 1924 and raised on a farm. After serving in the RAF during WWII, Johns joined the British Forestry Commission and undertook training in forestry at Dartington Hall, Devon.
Apart from two Ansel Adams workshops in the latter years of his career, Johns had no formal training in photography, but in his initial efforts he was guided by staff at Dartington Hall, where there was a special interest in photography.
Photographer for the NZ Forest Service
Johns emigrated to New Zealand in 1951 and joined the New Zealand Forest Service. Initially, he was engaged in forestry work – where he was appalled to witness the clear-fell logging of native forests then prevalent in New Zealand – but thanks to his training in forest management and his developing photographic skills he soon secured the Forest Service’s only ever position of official photographer.
Johns’ role was to promote forestry and the work of the New Zealand Forest Service. To this end he undertook a series of projects as directed by then Assistant Director General, Lindsay Poole. The first resulted in a book, Westland’s Wealth (1959) which exposed the devastation of Westland forests, a practice that Johns would later describe as ‘barbarous’.
Environmental Concerns
Clear-felling had led naturally to erosion, both in Westland and, more severely, in the Gisborne district. Although the erosion had begun decades earlier, it was not until the 1960s that the first systematic attempt was made to establish a forest of introduced conifers for the dual purpose of combating erosion and producing timber. In the book The Story of Mangatu, published 10 years later in 1973, some of Johns’ more arresting images show the devastated landscape and the restoration in progress.
Meanwhile, New Zealand forests (and native fauna) were also being ravaged by introduced wild animals, and to highlight this Johns was tasked with photographing not only the larger deer, tahr, and chamois, but also the smaller possum, rodents, and mustelids. This project, which took him to some of the New Zealand’s remotest corners, resulted in the book, Wild Animals in New Zealand (1986) which ran to several editions.
Personal Projects
Johns also embarked on a series of private book projects, notably Know Your Camera (1978); The Forest World of New Zealand (1975, with CGR Chavasse); and Native Orchids of New Zealand (1983, with Brian Molloy). In his retirement, he recorded extensively the construction of the Buddhist monastery near his Stokes Valley home and provided photographs for books on forestry produced by his former director, Lindsay Poole.
Technical Expertise
Technical excellence was a hallmark of Johns’ photography. He was meticulous regarding his equipment and his processing methods, and he was gratified when his work attracted praise from Ansel Adams – whom he regarded as ‘the master’ – and John Szarkowski, then curator of photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
Aerial photography was a significant component of Johns’ work, and he developed a long-standing relationship with New Zealand Aerial Mapping Ltd. Not satisfied at first with the results he was achieving, he participated with Aerial Mapping and instrument maker Geoffrey Hunter in constructing a large-format camera specifically for oblique aerial shots, some of which are among his most recognised images.
Exhibitions
In 1975, Johns participated in the large Wilderness Five exhibition at the Dominion Museum, Wellington; in 1990 he was included in the exhibition Two Centuries of New Zealand Landscape Art at the Auckland City Art Gallery and in the USA; in 1992 he had a one-person exhibition at the Bath House Museum, Rotorua; and in 2008 another one-person exhibition with photography dealer McNamara Gallery, Whanganui.
John Johns died in 1999 in Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.