John Ellis, Every Picture Tells a Story.

John describes himself as an activist and photographer. His energy and enthusiasm for life is inspiring and his work and music lift the heart. Every photograph has a story and the layered meanings are only revealed in conversation with him.

John took this photograph of the Point Lonsdale lighthouse in 2006 when on a jaunt in a Tiger Moth.

What inspires you?
Socialist revolutions in Cuba and Latin America. Their actions bring a glimpse of hope for a humane, environmental and equitable world.

What drives you to produce what you do?
 An urgency to record the history of Left movements in my lifetime through photography.

How would you describe your creative process?

A desire to capture the event and the people involved.

What hand-made item do you cherish?
A hand-carved, wooden buffalo from Mexico. For me its represents strength and resilience against those who would destroy us. I bought it in Mexico City on a short stop over on the way to Cuba and the United States in 1996.

Besides your creative work, what else do you do, and like doing?

Listening to classical, jazz or folk music, playing the recorder with friends, reading, walking through the bush, writing my memoirs, writing a history of type setting in Australia, voluntary community work, and cataloguing Left political collections.

Which artist, writer, designer or craftsperson (living or dead) do you admire?Paul Robeson. A colossus who bestrode the world stage singing, acting, fighting for social justice and who took on almost single-handed the fight for civil rights of Afro American people in the United States.

What can make your day?
Having a picnic or a Happy Hour by the sea.

What is a favourite quote or saying?
There are two:  “Workers of the World Unite,’’ and  “The People United Will Never be Defeated”

1000 images from the John Ellis Photograph Collection can be viewed at the University of Melbourne Archives web site, or from the Picture Australia site at the National Library of Australia.
 John photographs are Copyright: University of Melbourne Archives.

John takes a shot at the Pine Gap restriction sign outside the gates at the United States' spy base near Alice Springs 1998

Protesters march through Melbourne in protest against the United States' war in Iraq, 2002

Protesters march from Jabaru to the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory, 2001 

Annual May Day parade through Melbourne, 2003

Moorabbin Peace Action organised the only meeting of Dr. Benjamin Spock when he visited Victoria. He spoke about the American war in Vietnam and its consequences for Australia. The Australian Nazi Party protested outside the Moorabbin Town Hall. 1971

John can be contacted through this blog site regarding his photographs and the stories associated with them. He also plays recorder in a group called Musique who perform regularly at varoius venues.