For John Parker, photography was a salvation after a serious mental health crisis. He tells Amy Davies more about it
Up until fairly recently, photographer John Parker was working as a pensions administrator in an office. Following a breakdown, he’d returned to work part time, but was then offered redundancy; at the same time he felt he needed more time to work on his photographic exhibition. ‘It was as if the planets had aligned,’ he explains. ‘I clearly remember the first day after I had left work. I was wandering through the gardens of Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire, the sun was shining and all I had for company was my camera and the squirrels. I couldn’t stop smiling to myself.’
John studied fine art at the Hull School of Art, graduating in 1989. At the time, he specialised in photography, and it was 30 years later that photography was to play a major part in John’s journey back from the breakdown he experienced in 2019. ‘As part of your recovery, you are encouraged to get out of the house, go for walks or exercise. I mentioned to my counsellor that I was having trouble with motivation, and he suggested I combine the exercise with something I enjoy. I mentioned I used to be a keen photographer and it seemed to be the perfect solution.
‘In the time leading up to my breakdown, I had gradually lost interest in photography, to such an extent that I only used my phone to take pictures, but I’d even stopped doing that. Previously I had been more of a travel and street photographer, but I always had wanted to make landscape pictures. I decided I would slow down and start making pictures properly. I began to really re-connect with myself and the world. I immediately seemed to have a purpose again and became highly motivated. I would get so engrossed that my passion was totally rekindled. I would go so far as to say photography has totally transformed my life.’
John is based in Bolsover, Derbyshire, and it’s here where he first took most of his pictures, thanks in part to the Covid restrictions at the time. As soon as those were relaxed, he travelled further afield to historical places of interest – another passion of his – such as Hardwick Hall, Chatsworth House and Renishaw Hall.
He uses filters to create the infrared photos such as you see on this spread. ‘I have always liked infrared, but I had never really pursued that way of working until recently and now I’d say about 80% of my work is shot this way. As infrared filters are pretty dark, you are into the realms of extended exposure times, so a good strong tripod is essential.’
Infrared light ‘When assessing a scene, I look for elements that will cause movement – foliage, grass, clouds, that sort of thing. Although with clouds I tend to hold back on exposure time so the movement isn’t so pronounced. Infrared l
