John-Paul Menez is a Texas-based photographer who specializes in black and white film photography. His work focuses on modern human experiences and global communities through the lens of classical artistic aesthetics.

Publications that have featured his work include DocuMagazine, NBC News, and The Hook. He is also a contributor at the photoblog 35mmc and a member of Leica Society International.

John-Paul began his photography journey traveling around the world as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy. He has studied at The University of Texas at Austin and Yale University and was a docent at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

FAQs

How did you get started in photography? I grew up within a five-minute walk of our neighborhood library in Klein, Texas. So I read western novels, history books, art and fashion magazines in every spare moment. As I grew older other countries and people out there had to be experienced rather than just something I read about. The Navy afforded me the opportunity to travel and see these places with my own eyes. You’re only young once and I didn’t want to regret not capturing these moments and the world before it changed, so I bought my first camera before my first deployment. I’ve been taking photos ever since.

Who are your influences? Realist and modernist twentieth-century painters are my primary artistic influences. These include John Singer Sargent, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Frederic Remington, Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, Georgia O’Keeffe, Ives Klein. My photographic influences include Richard Avedon, Dorothea Lange, Robert Doisneau, Slim Aarons, Fan Ho, Helmut Newton, Frank Hovart, Annie Leibovitz.

Are prints of your photographs available for purchase? Yes. I personally make limited series of silver gelatin darkroom prints of selected analog photographs. High quality inkjet prints of both film and digital photos on Hahnemuhle fine art paper are also available.

Do you also produce color work? Yes.

What are your favorite cities for Street Photography? Paris, Tokyo, London. I’m also always inspired by The American West.

What camera do you use? I primarily use a 1962 Leica M3 film rangefinder. I also use a digital Leica M11 Monochrom. For medium format photography I use a Plaubel Makina 67 and a Rolleiflex T.