Stranger

Welcome, Stranger.

About Stranger//   Stranger lives to examine documentary and street photography, including past masters such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Garry Winogrand, local favourites Fred Herzog and Jeff Wall, and newer creators like Trent Parke and Hin Chua. Stranger will serve up multimedia presentations including photographs, slideshows, audio, video, and literature. The site will also highlight Metro Vancouver photography exhibitions and visual art venues, as well as a platform to share my personal work in progress.

About Waxy// My name is John Goldsmith but most people call me Waxy. I’m a freelance photographer based in Vancouver, Canada. I didn’t start out to be a photographer. Instead, like many others, I slowly drifted into it from another profession until the obsession of pressing that little button consumed me.

My background is in quantum chemistry. I have a masters degree in Physical Chemistry from Indiana University. My specialty was spectroscopy, or literally, light writing. I spent more than 10 years as a research scientist studying how light interacts with matter. In 1999, I began taking formal photography classes at the Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago and later at the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver. It was then that I made the transition: instead of measuring light striking matter at the quantum level I was looking at the light radiating off of people and their surroundings. I switched from using a robust $35,000 spectrophotometer to a handy 35mm camera — which is really much lighter to carry around!

In 2006 I started my own business, Waxy Photography. Primarily I am hired to shoot events and other commissioned projects though I also sell editorial and stock photography. Publishers of my photographs include the CBC, the Boston Review, Conde Nast, and JPG Magazines, among others. In 2007, I wrote and feature article in Photosho magazine about Street Photography which appeared in the Vancouver Art Gallery and major bookstores across Canada. My artwork has been displayed in popular Vancouver galleries, and more recently, is used to promote a new exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Girona, Spain.

Please let me know if you have questions, suggestions, or info on local exhibitions. Thanks.

John Goldsmith  |  Freelance Photographer  |  Vancouver, Canada  |  604.974.0402

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