There is a photographer nestled away in Ohio, carefully snapping away pictures of the everyday and the surreal. He is currently compiling a collection of photographs depicting behind the scenes in the US fight scene, whilst creating modern expressive collages overlapping public, historic and private features for an exhibition later this year. He is an artist and a businessman; in control of the way he captures the untamed behaviour around him. He is a 1999 winner of the SCAD Juried Alumni Show and has had exhibitions of his artwork at the Red Gallery in Savannah, Georgia, the Sandusky Cultural Center in Sandusky, Ohio and the Robert E. Wilson Gallery, Huntington, Indiana. This last was a return to old haunts for the professional photographer, who studied for a BA in graphic design at Huntington College up to 1995 and subsequently a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Photography at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.
Walz went on to work as a photojournalist for Hillsdale Daily News (MI) and the Port Clinton News Herald (OH) before establishing his own business, John Walz Photography.
A glance at his business website shows you that the company offers something slightly different to your average wedding or portrait photographer. John Walz describes his process of wedding photography as “a one day photo documentary, shooting in the morning…and continuing to shoot late into the night”. For his commissioned work, John favours black and white silver photography to create a timeless record of the day. The spin he takes on portrait photography is more than a regular “say cheese” approach.
Cerebrally John’s work reminds me of portraits from the 18th Century, where a member of the distinguished elite would commission an artist to paint their portrait – both for posterity and for the recognition of having the artist associated with them. The biggest status symbol would be to commission the greatest artist of the age. 
Yet John’s wedding work is a far cry from the staged look of your 18th Century portrait. In fact, this is precisely what he tries to veer away from – he doesn’t direct his subjects in any way but rather observes them and captures what he sees.
In my personal position as a scientist, I find John’s approach to his business revitalizing. There is a scientific theory that states that by interacting with any system causes it to be altered by that influence, thereby creating artifacts rather than genuine representations of what is in progress. What John captures is the impression of the day that lingers with you but inevitably would otherwise slip away to be replaced in your memory by the fixed smiles in the photos and videos you would normally see. In John’s words, “I want my pictures to have integrity and truth, they are not staged events – they are the spontaneous capture of actual events”. He captures the feeling of the moment, almost as if he is photographing not just the subjects but also the air that surrounds them. To be able to do this, it is vital that John approach each situation with an open mind and so he enters every room without preconceived notions, able to react to whatever he sees inside. The parallels between science and art are so close I can smell the formaldehyde.
Outside of his company, however, John Walz produces a range of artistic works that incorporate the normal and the surreal, both for expression, yet also just to have a laugh. With increasing popularity these pictures are crossing the Atlantic, including having recently appeared on the cover of the novel Watching Eva upon its UK and US release.
Using Lomo, fisheye lens and polaroids, he captures a classic style that he blends with work on photographic collages and powerful black and white shots. The lomo and fisheye shots stand out for their completeness. In an era of digital technology, when it is as simple to run off forty shots of the subject and only then sift through to pick the one that worked (then crop and adjust and airbrush until it looks exactly how you want) these cameras and lenses ensure that what you see in the picture is just what was in front of John when he pressed the button.
Not that Walz is against creativity and adjustments in his work. The collages, overlays and photoshopped items that John produces show that he takes to any medium and uses each where it is appropriate.
In fact John has developed a taste for the old way of doing things. If you check out the short film on his love of cameras viewable on youtube, you hear him talk about how sometimes he likes to use the oldest of his cameras, an 8×10 view camera that needs a tripod, hand held filters and shoots one frame for the five minutes or so it takes to set up – and needs him to independently measure light levels, exposure times, film speeds and focal lengths and do a bit of mental arithmetic to get it all right. And the results are worth the effort.
But then, as you soon tell, John does love the variety he has in his 40 or so cameras, and regularly uses over a dozen of these to get the range of styles he displays. What stands out, however, is how characteristic each of his different artworks can be. When you see a piece of Walz’s work, it is instantly recognizable – but can be so completely different to any other style that he adopts. Through this he is able to cross genres in both his work and his art, enabling him to experiment with different techniques whilst still conveying an essential part of what makes his work unique. While in his extra time, John also teaches an art class and when he has time he is an accomplished runner. He also plays the banjo.
Married to Raegan Sawyer and a father to one year-old Elsa, John is part of a happy family and his wife, daughter and dogs Cosmo and Lucy often make guest appearances in his work, though when it comes to John’s playful side you see that nobody he knows is safe from his lens. Much like an observational comedian, John can capture both the amusing and the poignant about what you see around you, but he can also show you things you’ve never seen before.
John’s work can be seen on his business website, www.JohnWalzPhoto.com. Most of his art pieces are available as limited edition prints at varying sizes and his website has a link to email your interest to the man himself.
Words: Alasdair Kay
All Images: John Walz
Check Sleepy Orange next week for “Ten Questions With John Walz”
