John Strange

I say that I have been shooting photographs since the age of 15 but that was the age at which I began using an SLR.  Prior to that age, I shot photos with whatever point-n-shoot I could get my hands on, from my dad’s beloved Kodaks and Polaroids to whatever off-brand camera I could afford.  I wore out countless cameras taking hundreds and thousands of photos.  I wish I could find even 5-10% of those photos!

At 15, I received my first SLR, a venerable Topcon with two prime lenses (50mm and 135mm).  The camera was at least 25 years old when my brother bought it in the town he was serving near as a member of the Army in Germany. With this camera (and some minimal initial training from my brother) I entered a whole new world.  Not long after I began shooting with a friend who was trained by his father.  Mr. Smith took me under his wing.  I was allowed to train to shoot weddings and events.

Since that time, I have photographed everything from fashion shows to hockey games and homeless people to rock stars.  I enjoy shooting people even more than scenery.  A perfect sunrise is awesome but that perfect smile is even better!

I am a photographer who resists being typecast into one style or area of my art.  I love to shoot portraits outdoors where I can incorporate natural light and nature into my vision of the model or models.  My event work has garnered me a lot of attention.

I love to work with people.  I love to see them and help others to see them as I do.  I love to show people a side of themselves that they may not have seen before.

My love of film also began at a very young age.  I remember seeing HOW THE WEST WAS WON from the front row of the Majestic Theater in Downtown Dallas as a 7-year-old when my older brother’s scout pack was taken there for a Saturday matinee.  Seeing those cattle seemingly explode off the screen made an indelible mark on me.

Watching WIZARD OF OZ on TV every year became a family tradition very early in my life.  I have great memories of watching so many movies at local theaters, the Lochwood General Cinema, the Casa Linda, the Medallion to name a few.  It was at the Medallion Theater that I experienced perhaps my most enduring memory of viewing a sci-fi horror film.

My friends and I went to the matinee screening of ALIEN on opening day in 1979. Unbeknownst to us a gaggle of young girls came and sat in the row immediately behind our center of the house seats.  The shrieks and screams of these young ladies so intensified the experience that I felt like I spent most of the screening hanging by my fingernails from the ceiling!  They took a good movie and made it truly frightening!   I LOVED IT!  Sadly, I have never been able to successfully recreate this event.

In 1984, I took my experience in photography and my love for film and began working with a team of other young writers doing film reviews and interviews.  Together we built the North Dallas Movie Review, a publication and an organization dedicated not only to doing film reviews and interviews but helping the public and our readers find out about the film preview screenings in the DFW area. We proudly hosted scores of these screenings on behalf of the studios, giving away passes and freebies such as posters, t-shirts, DVDs, and such over the run of the publication.

NDMR ran from mid-1984 until about August 1999, ending its run only when those of us who were its leaders found that our jobs in the IT industry were taking too much of our time to allow us to do a good job with the publication.

After Y2K, I met a young man who wanted help revitalizing his already existing publication, Entertainment Showcase.  I worked with him as his Editor-in-Chief for two years before creative differences required that I step down and allow him to continue on with his dream.

My next review home was on the web at www.TheCityWeb.com, a locally run website that provided information to people about everything to do with the arts.  I worked with them as head writer for several years.  They shut down the site in 2009 due to various concerns and the cost of doing business in the 2009 environment.

Over the years I made my living in Information Technology, working my way up from Computer Operator to Systems Programmer.  In 2006, during my run with TheCityWeb.com, I left my full-time job with IBM (I spent 30+ years working in IT) and began working as a photographer full-time while continuing to write my film reviews.

Since then, I have been working in photography and the film/TV business, learning and strengthening my crafts. I have also been working to put this site together.

We do film reviews and interviews but also bring you reviews of home video offerings, theater, music, and all the other genres of entertainment in the area.  We cover news from film and TV sets shooting right here in our backyard to let you know more than the rest of the country!

As part of the Selig Polyscope Company/Selig Film News team, I travel around the Deep South and Midwest to film festivals where we supply DCPs and projection services plus sit-down interviews with filmmakers and members of the film industry.  Recently, we began producing red carpets for film festivals.

I am proud that this site and look forward to many years of working with the public and the studios to bring you the information you can use and enjoy!