John Ansell was born in Dandenong and was by any standards an underwhelming student. However it was a school assignment that sparked an interest in photography that was to last a lifetime.
John trained in the RAAF as a photographer. This gave him technical skills to take and print sharp well exposed photographs that stretched no boundaries creatively. Transitioning to run a successful portrait studio in Gippsland, John started pushing himself to create more personal and story driven work. He also expanded into the area of Alternate Photography including Wet Plate Collodion and Cyanotypes.
As a photographer, John has always created new work either for National competitions or purely for himself. In 2015 he turned to the Wet Plate Collodion medium and created the series “A Time Line of Australia” that saw him voted both the Australian Portrait Photographer of the Year and the Overall Australian Professional Photographer of the Year. Continuing forward his work in Alternate Photography has seen him create images with processes such as Argrotypes, Emulsion Transfers and in particular Cyanotypes.
Recent wins and acknowledgements include:
2021 World Photography Cup
Finalist Commercial Category
2018 Victorian Professional Photography Awards
Winner Victorian Professional Science Photographer of the Year
Victorian Professional Photography Awards – Highest Scoring Print Award
2016 Australian Professional Photography Awards
Winner Australian Professional Historical Process Photographer of the Year
Gold Award Alternative Process Category
2015 Australian Professional Photography Awards
Winner AIPP Australian Professional Photographer of the Year
Winner AIPP Australian Professional Portrait Photographer of the Year
Gold Award Portrait Category
Enjoying success at national and international level, alternate processes and traditional Black and White darkroom work are key components of John’s personal work and the stories within. Often working with environmental themes to express concern at man’s effect on our world the work is sometimes dark and usually thought provoking.
Currently he is working on two projects; A portrait collection of his Gippsland community and a series of Cyanotype images of marine life taken whist scuba diving local waters.
