Jonathan Charles

Based in the south-west of England, photography / art photography* has been my passion since the late 1960s though not my main occupation. I have a wide-ranging experience in practical photography including landscapes, portraits, theatre(especially modern dance), and abstract and, especially nudes; and with most kinds of equipment and processing - nowadays mostly digital. Many of my photos were originally taken in the 70s onwards and have been scanned more recently from the B&W negatives or colour slides. Since 2005 I have been mostly taking in digital.

I aim to create pictures which can be appreciated on four levels, the first being an interesting or beautiful subject, the second an abstract design, the third an emotional connection, the fourth and deepest, a link to the hidden mythical / spiritual shared consciousness that feeds our dreams. A quick view may not get beyond the first levels but if you spend a little longer looking there is usually more to see.

Much of my work explores the ideal relationship between mankind and the natural world and female nudes feature especially, partly because they have intrinsic beauty and often for the symbolism of the human in a totally natural state as an observer or participant in a landscape.

I am grateful for any comments or criticisms of my photos about both the technical aspects and your response to the image as a whole image and the idea behind it.

More of my work can be viewed (for the moment) on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathancharlesphoto/

I joined FotoCommunity back in 2005 but removed most of my photos in protest at people being charged to see them. Now (2022) I recognise that commercial pressures are affecting all photo sites so we have to live with this.

* this doesn't just mean pretentious photographer, it means "not documentary photographer" i.e. my pictures do not necessarily record objective reality (whatever that is) but my reaction to the subject. They do start in a camera and mostly end up in the style of a photograph but quite a lot of "artistic licence" may be taken in between.