JOHN Fox has had his eye to a camera for the past six decades and has become famous across East Sussex for his incredible astrophotography skills.
Editor Paul Gibson sat with John within the grounds of the historic Herstmonceux Observatory Science Centre, where he spends a lot of his time, to find out about his passion for photography and the solar system.
When John was just seven years old in the early 1950s, his father built a four-inch telescope reflector from a kit, and as soon as John observed the moon and planets through the telescope, he knew there was no going back, and a long and interesting and career in photography and astronomy began.
After leaving school, John worked as a salesman in a Brighton camera shop. Later, he and his brother Ian owned and ran a camera shop in Hove for 14 years, and over the years, he was recognised for his photography skills and was approached to become a news photographer for the then Evening Argus.
This career path led to him being headhunted by the Manchester Evening News, where he became a key part of the team covering major stories across the city and the North West until he retired after taking redundancy in 1996.
During his 32-year career as a press photographer, John continued to develop his love of astrophotography and was always called upon to capture key stories, such as solar eclipses and comets that made huge headlines.
Throughout his career, John boasts he has photographed a total of 1,400 weddings — but admits to acting ‘dumb’ nowadays when being invited to ceremonies — going back to photographing the bride and groom is something far from his agenda these days. He was also named Photographer of the Year in 1983 after his award-winning images were published in the region’s press.
He is now often found standing in the dark looking upwards with his digital photography equipment to capture galaxies, planets and key solar moments to produce some breathtaking images for all to see.
As Chairman of the Wealden Astronomers, a group of almost 50 like-minded individuals, John has been known to stand in deep snow for five hours to capture a night sky in temperatures as low as -6ºC, making him, quite literally, outstanding in his field.
John fondly remembers the days of film photography and says it has never been easier to get stunning images of space. He cites a memory in the late ’80s when most of us had never heard of the term ‘digital photography’.
John told me: “The Manchester Evening News (MEN) embraced technology from the earliest possible moments. Even in 1996, the company purchased the first Kodak/Nikon professional digital cameras with a tiny 1.5 MB memory and had mobile phones and modems mounted in a portable suitcase which transmitted images to the office — the company really was ten years ahead of anyone else.
By 1996, almost all photographers for the company were made redundant, and just one staff photographer would go out to take all the images for the newspaper and send all the images back to the office from a briefcase in true James Bond style. There was no need for him to return to base to process images like the ‘old days’.”
Nowadays, John is happily retired in Polegate, where he Chairs Wealden Astronomers, which for two years had been based at Herstmonceux castle until the castle’s temporary closure for emergency restoration work in November 2023, and is extremely active in developing the group. He is also dedicated to passing on his skills in bespoke one-day Astrophotography courses, which are run from the Observatory Science Centre twice a year.
John said: “It’s paramount that we encourage new blood, not only into the astronomy group but also teach camera owners to point them to the skies to capture what is happening. The courses are designed to help anyone from absolute beginners to professional photographers get the best from their equipment.
There is so much happening up there, and with the developments in technology, almost everyone can get some stunning photographs like mine. All it takes is some patience and a love of space.”
Visit the-observatory.org/events to learn about stargazing evenings and John’s astrophotography courses. John is also a STEM ambassador volunteer at both the castle and the Observatory Science Centre and attends most of the OSC public stargazing evenings with his telescope equipment.
You can see more of Wealden astronomers work on their website www.wealdenastronomers.org
