Rodeo Productions says the following about de Gaspé near the tracks (in Montreal): it’s the most appropriate setting to meet a real Mile-Ender. He’s a stark observer of the city’s style and fame – John Londono knows bands, designers and actors and captures their creativity through his. Here’s a taste of what fashion feels like from behind the camera.

“I used to spend a lot of time in the dark room. I was really inspired by the history of photography, documentary in particular. What I was doing was with the same style, but talking about something different.”

John Londono did start out on the same path as some documentary photographers. John’s Quebecois dad was gone. His Columbian dad had passed too. So he set out to find his roots in Venezuela and Columbia. What came of this was a lyrical depiction of a ghost hunt in images. He realized that’s what he had been working on out there when he exposed it here. And people loved it. So he went to Art school.

“Fashion is the bastard brother of art and music.”

When John finished art school, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it anymore. He says he’s always been “against-the-tide” of everything he’s done. It was time to go back to photography. When he did, the music scene was effervescent in Montreal. He discovered that bands could be models too. They need to market themselves through their looks, and editorials are one way to do it. John was doing his own styling at the time. One thing led to another, and he even went on tour in Europe with The Horrors. The Horrors had a real sense of fashion – Robert Smith hair, skinny jeans before their time, pointy shoes, and bow-ties. Their groupies were rocking beehives. He was immersed in the trendy rock scene of London. No wonder his conception of fashion was influenced a lot by music. Says John: “One of my friends once described me as ‘neutral John’(grey or white). I always wear black. It’s the photographer’s uniform. I am very stereotypical.”

He can’t stand cowboy boots on women, especially with dresses; but he doesn’t mind Docs with flower dresses or the Ranger boots his friend Grimes wears sometimes. He absorbed the dandy rugged schoolboy trend he sees on young adults in Paris, London and of course the Mile-End. Maybe stereotypical of the photographer in the 80s because he wears black, he does not go unnoticed in a slick double-breasted wool coat and boat-captain hat. He’s not hung up on trends, but his aesthetic taste is in tune with what’s going on out there. His secret is that his photos are timeless. It would require an acute couture eye to be able to know the model is sporting Chanel boots in the ethereal photo series he won a Lux prize for this year.

Styling is a major part of what John does, however. If you miss, you loose; especially when you start dealing with bigger commercial clients. He once did a shoot where hockey players were being shot in their hometown uniforms. The client thought the skates used were not credible. They were brand new 1000 dollar-skates, but not what the professionals wear. Attention to detail is monumental.