Taking a Camera for a Walk. My First 60 Years on the Streets.

John Williams

This November, photographer and historian, John Williams will exhibit a photographic retrospect in Melbourne. William’s exhibition spans over half a century of street photography from both Australia and abroad, with the earliest photograph in the exhibition taken in 1952.

William’s earliest work was captured in square format on a Rolleicord TLR. “When my now battered twin-lens Rollei finally gave up the ghost, I took the hint and shifted to 35mm. Over the next 30 years, I pursued my indecisive moments with Pentaxes, Olympuses and Leicas.” Inspired by his wife, Ingeborg Tyssen’s, choice of camera after her death another visual shift took place as William’s picked up a panoramic camera.

This is the first exhibition of William’s work in Melbourne since his retrospective at the NGV in 1991. “Treat these as an old man’s cry of alarm and sigh of resignation. Enough to say that I’m not finished yet with either the streets or the anti-landscapes to which they led me.” Williams was the co-founder of South Yarra’s highly regarded Photographers Gallery during the mid 1970’s.