In My Own Words

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera” - Dorothea Lange

Maybe it’s because I was born in the space between the symbolic peak of the hippie movement, Woodstock, and its end, Altamont, but for as long as I can remember I’ve had a love/hate relationship with pop culture and its media.  I’m awed by its beauty and its power to move; I’m appalled and angered by its ubiquitous call to compete and consume.  It’s a monologue that makes little good noise.  With my art I hope to challenge this.  

Growing up, film, TV, and music had a profound influence on me.  I remember spending hours making videos using two ancient top loading VCR’s patched together with RCA cables, mixing countless cassette tapes, and plastering rock stars and pin-up girls on everything I owned.  The media shaped the way I saw the world, with little concern or understanding from me.

Then something changed.  In my last year of University in London, Ontario, a film theory course made me re-evaluate a medium I loved.  And then in 1993, while attending University in Glasgow, Scotland, a media studies elective shifted my thinking again.  Finally, I started to understand the enormous role media plays in our lives.  

Around the same time another serendipitous thing happened – my parents returned from a trip to Germany with a hand-me-down SLR camera for me.  Although I had no photography training, I started taking numerous lousy, but important pictures.  With camera in hand, my interest in film-making slowly morphed into a love of the still image.  And my appreciation for media as an art form grew.  

In 2001, one of my photos – of my daughter, Tyya – won the Toronto Sun photo contest; the prize was a 2-megapixel digital camera.  The ability to take photos at little cost encouraged more experimentation.  This, combined with lessons learned while teaching English Media saw a dramatic improvement in my photography skills as I practised while at home with my second daughter, Taegan.   

In 2004, I purchased a Digital SLR and started taking my photography a little more seriously.  Friends and family began asking for prints and hiring me to take portraits.  I received more awards.  Finally, in 2006, after years of encouragement, I shared my art for the first time to many positive comments and more opportunities. 

In 2010, The Globe and Mail sent me to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to shoot the games from the fans’ perspective.  Two years later, I travelled to Nicaragua to be part of and document a medical mission.  My photography has been featured in art shows and books, promotional campaigns and on living room walls.  I am grateful for this.

Now, having retired early from the education system I’ve decided to devote more time to making “good noise”.  Through my art, I hope to encourage dialogue and build community by making people consider the beauty that too often passes us by.  

Enjoy Good Noise.

John Fearnall