Movie stills on show

Press, 25 June 1976, Page 18

Movie stills on show

Stills from his own 16mm movie films are the material; of an exhibition of 23 photographs by Paul Johns in the print room at the C.S.A. ■ Gallery. He is a graduate of the: School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University, where the moving image on film , was pan of the sculpture [course. He admits to being i considerably influenced by Andy Warhol, and a long ■ quotation from him dominates one of the pictures. He would like to be making i films himself, but has compromised with stills because of the cost. Most of the pictures portray a mood of some kind, and the subjects are not quite what they seem. Many! of them are trans-sexuals. photographed in Wellington and Christchurch — "people who have changed their j natural being to become something else, but what J

i they have created is still I; natural.” Paul Johns likes the special quality of movie stills as compared with ordinary still [ photographs. Having caught the subjects in motion, they seem quite different. Some! l of the pictures are compo-! sites, such as “Solitaire.”! which comprises 30 photo-, graphs covering just over one 1 second of film. "I wanted a! very concentrated effect,” he said. "Each shot is not just; a cursory glance — it is a close look achieved by multiple shots.” One or two Polaroid “instant” pictures are included in the exhibition, because of their ability to capture the quality of the moment. The photographer feels that the technical aspects of taking ordinary photographs can destroy something of the atmosphere of the time. Prices of the pictures range 'from $2O to $6O. The exhibition will continue until July! 'I