John Gollings

John Gollings (born 1944 in Melbourne), is a world renown architectural photographer.^[1] Gollings work is published widely throughout Australia and internationally and he is well regarded for his unique and identifiable style. "Practical and pragmatic, one of his great skills lies in his ability to almost always compose the best shot, the one defining image that makes a building memorable, etches it into the psyche." - Joe Rollo. Known as the unofficial curator of Australian architecture, such is the power of his eye and ability to get a building published. His career began in fashion and advertising photography shooting everything from the Marlboro Man to The Rolling Stones. While his passion is documenting cities and reflecting urban space, his muse is not the modern world but the ancient cities of Asia. Known as Hampi's most avid visitor Gollings has been documenting Hampi (India) as part of the Vijayanagara Research Project for over 35 years. The Vijayanagara Research Project (VRP) is an international group of researchers, which has been documenting and interpreting the remains of Vijayanagara since 1980. The Kaladham Museum in Karnataka, India was built by the Jindal Steel Company to house his life’s work at the Hampi Ruins. The Film "Eye For Architecture" produced and directed by Sally Ingleton, journeys into the world of cutting-edge architecture in Australia and Asia through the lens of Gollings.

He is a prolific supporter of emerging photographers and the arts and donates his time and services despite an incredibly hectic schedule. Gollings holds a master's degree in Architecture from RMIT University and an Honorary Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Architects.

Gollings is supported and encouraged by his wife Marion Boyce and his long suffering producer Sue Shanahan who has been his rock for over 40 years.

Early life

John Gollings began his foray into photography and darkroom developing at the keen age of 11. He studied Arts and Architecture at Melbourne University, supplementing his studies with architectural and wedding photography. By 1967 he was being mentored in the darkroom by Ansel Adams while freelancing as a photographer for advertising and fashion. Before long this expanded into major shoots for a plethora of big-name local (Sportsgirl, ANZ Bank, Australia Post) and international (Philip Morris, Shell Petrol) accounts. As Australian architectural style began to evolve and develop, Gollings carried his rich photographic expertise into the world of structures and skyscrapers, bringing with him a unique blend of formal composition and didactic contextual perspective.

Career

Gollings works in the Asia Pacific region as an architectural photographer. Much of his work involves long term cultural projects especially in India, Cambodia, China, Libya and New Guinea. He specialises in the documentation of cities, often from the air. He has a particular interest in the cyclic fires and floods that characterise the Australian landscape. These have been documented with aerial photography.

His books include two volumes of New Australia Style, T&H; City of Victory, Aperture and Kashgar, Oasis city on the Silk Road, and Frances Lincoln in addition to many catalogues and monographs on architecture. Thames and Hudson released a monograph called "Beautiful Ugly" of his contemporary architectural work.

His work is exhibited by the Asia Society, New York, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, the Monash Gallery of Art, the State Library of Queensland, The Janet Holmes A'Court collection, The Gold Coast Gallery and the National Library of Australia.

Recent exhibitions include the Australian Centre for Photography, Gold Coast Gallery, The Immigration Museum, Victoria, Monash Gallery of Art, McClelland Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia.

He received a Visual Arts Board Grant from the Australia Council, twice given the Presidents Award by the Australian Institute of Architecture and received many advertising and graphic design awards from Australian, New York and Chicago Art Directors Clubs.

Gollings was the co-creative director emeritus, with Ivan Rijavek, of the Australian Pavilion at the 2010 edition of the Venice Biennale of Architecture. This exhibition was called Now and When and compared the existing state of Australian cities, and their counterpoint in the mining holes of the west, to the possibility of a radically different, paradigmatic city of the future. This was either photographed from a helicopter in 3D or rendered in 3D using CGI. This project traveled Australia and Asia under the auspices of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade until 2013.

In 2016 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for ‘significant service to photography through the documentation of iconic architectural landmarks in Australia and the Asia Pacific region’.

References