Sandra, Tom, Aerial, Rose (the cat), kittens - Newtown December 1979

John F Williams is not simply a street photographer; although he views the world with the quirky and spontaneous gaze so often associated with that genre. Williams began photographing in the 1950s, and has worked variously as an aeronautical engineer, magazine editor, historian and photography lecturer to support his art. Between 1973 and 1977 he was the photography critic for 'The Australian', and was appointed Senior Lecturer in Photography at Sydney College of the Arts in 1976. Williams' photographs are impeccably framed, with often just a limb, head or shadow of a human subject trapped in a visual play with text, signs and the formal elements of landscape. Reflections and mirrors are recurring motifs in his work, often used to abstract reality in layers of form. His more recent work develops techniques for recognising the passage of time in photography, including photographic series and photomontage.